


The Sensational Night Shadow - Issue #3: The Jacked Up Headless Reunion

by TheSplashtasticUniverse



Series: The Sensational Night Shadow - The Complete First Season [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/M, M/M, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:33:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26478022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSplashtasticUniverse/pseuds/TheSplashtasticUniverse
Summary: When they're invited to their high school reunion in Paris, Mason discovers something odd about his old school. Meanwhile, Sydney tries to defend her boyfriend's reputation by placing his artwork in an art contest. Jerry tries to confess his feelings to Amber. And Nelson attempts to connect with an old flame. So many stories to tell, how will they come together?
Relationships: Alyssa CordeliaxSteven Adara, Jerry VanderhoffxAmber Connor, Mason MoonstonexSydney Connor, Nelson PinesxChad Brady
Series: The Sensational Night Shadow - The Complete First Season [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1919323





	1. Chapter 1

**“The Sensational Night Shadow in… The Jacked Up Headless Reunion”**

**Chapter 1**

Created by The Spectacular SpiderDom

* * *

In the city of Seattle, Washington, 2035…

Mason Moonstone: The Sensational Night Shadow, sat inside his studio and worked on his art alongside his business partner/boss, Nelson Pines, also known as Project: C2S-N.E.L.S.O.N. of the Robotic Services of Seattle Corporation.

Nelson was a five-foot and nine-inch robot with a red, bronze, and silver color scheme. His face was human-like and resembled an average civilian that wore bronze glasses over a red-colored face, and he had golden eyes with black pupils. His upper body was mostly red with a little bit of bronze paint that went over his shoulders. The top half of his arms were silver while the lower part, including his hands, were red. His fingers were painted black. Lastly, he had bronze circles around his elbows, shoulders, knees, and ankles.

As for the lower half of his body, he was built with a bronze waist with a red belt attached to a silver buckle. His legs were silver, and his kneecaps were bronze. His feet were red and had bronze and silver sculpting that resembled shoes. The tip of his feet were solid black.

For his work uniform, he had a black apron along with golden goggles over his glasses.

Mason had somewhat of the same attire, but he wore more of an armored smock than his boss did. He also had a pair of heavy-duty goggles to protect himself.

The two of them were working on a sculpture made of stone. They were hired to make this by someone who planned to pay them a ton of money, so they jumped right on the offer and agreed to make the piece for the customer.

They’ve been working for a few weeks on the stone artifact: it was close to being completed. All they needed to do was chisel a few rough pieces of stone off of it to make the texture smoother. Mason used a standard chisel to take out any edges that had a few pebbles or other fragments of stone sticking out whereas Nelson used his enhanced optic programming to zoom in on them.

Using a laser that shot out of his finger, he decimated the hard edges and made the texture smoother by morphing his other hand’s finger into a smoothing chisel. He rubbed off the edge and continued working.

Around their studio, materials ranging from wood to marble were neatly organized on an armada of shelves and tools sat around the desks; they were placed by the type they were. The walls were beige, and the floor was mostly wooden with a red-carpet underneath where Mason and Nelson worked.

The thing that kept the room filled with light was a bright chandelier on the ceiling; a thousand lights reflected off of Nelson’s body.

Speaking of Nelson, he looked over at his employee, who was standing on a ladder as he worked on the top part of the piece. He nodded his head and flipped open his goggles. Using the jet boosters on the bottom of his feet, he flew over to his partner and tapped him on the shoulder.

Mason stopped working and looked at his partner/boss. “What’s up, Doc?”

“Getting tired?” Nelson asked. His voice was cybernetic.

“Little bit,” Mason replied, stretching his shoulders. “My back’s killing me from leaning over like this. I would take a small break, but I wanna get this done. That guy’s giving us a thousand bucks, right?”

“ _Two_ thousand bucks, actually,” Nelson pointed with a smile. “And I think we’re pretty much done. Come on down, Mr. Stone Builder, let’s see our gorgeous masterpiece.”

Climbing down from the latter, Mason pressed a button on his black armor and watched it morph back into its original form; a watch. He adjusted the time on the watch and walked to the front of the sculpture he made, standing next to Nelson.

“So, Whatcha think?” the red robot inquired.

Standing before them was a massive stone piece that included a woman looking petrified, as she was trapped in the arms of a man in his underpants. He had long hair that reached down to his abs and his tongue was sticking out. He was going in for a kiss, much to the woman’s dismay. Although, one facial detail on her looked like she was going to enjoy this.

But as for Mason and Nelson… they didn’t enjoy it one bit.

The former stroked his chin and stuck his hands in his orange pockets. “Hmm… I know this guy’s giving us two grand for this, but don’t you think this is a little strange. I mean, this looks like that one Michael Jackson piece we made for that one woman.”

“Look on the bright side, they’re no children in this one.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ, I can’t believe you brought that up again.”

“Hey, you brought it up first.”

**_KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!_ **

Mason turned to the door, hearing a loud sound on the other side.

He turned towards Nelson, who was standing closest to the door. He sat down on a blue/white hover chair and poured himself a glass of wine. He opened up his mouth and consumed the whole drink, including the glass itself.

Rolling his eyes, the man walked towards the door. “Oh, don’t worry, Nelson. I’ll get the door.” He said with sarcasm.

“Good, go get it,” Nelson replied, drinking another glass of wine.

Opening the door, Mason was greeted to a grey, box-shaped robot wearing a mailman’s uniform and cap. It was holding a couple of letters as well as a package in its hands.

“MAIL CALL.” It beeped.

"Why thank you," Mason smiled, kindly taking the mail from the robot's hands.

But before he closed the door, the robot began making more beeping sounds and moving its head. Around its neck, a silver can with a red label that said, _“Tip Jar”_ on it. It continued to do this until Mason smiled and snapped his fingers.

Reaching into his pocket, Mason pulled out an orange cough drop and placed it in the jar.

“Get well soon, buddy,” he said, closing the door.

The robot slowly looked down at the cough drop and lowered its head in shame. It turned around and walked away, flipping the man off in secret.

Inside, Nelson finished his sixth glass of wine when he saw Mason approach him with the mail.

“Oh, anything good?” Nelson inquired, getting up from his chair.

Mason flipped through the letters and placed the package down. “Let’s see, I got some more student loan bills.”

“You still haven’t paid those off yet?”

“They like to bullshit me, that’s all… anyways, we have letters from your sister, death threats, death threats from your sister, this one package you ordered from eBay, and… some letter from Treedome High School.”

Nelson raised a silver eyebrow. “Treedome High School… as in the same Treedome High School that was infested with _‘funny’_ memes, moronic teachers, and a principal who acted like one of those _‘hip’_ dads you see on TV?”

“Yep,”

“No way,” Nelson smiled. He reached for the letter. “Let me see, let me see, what does it say?”

Mason handed him the letter and watched him open it up; inside was a titanium plate. Nelson took it out and scanned it, wondering what it could be for. He rubbed his head and adjusted his glasses before reaching in the envelope and pulling out a small yellow paper with instructions on it. He placed the plate down and read it.

“Place the tablet down and say, _‘I wish to speak to the father of memes.’_ What the-“

**_ZAP!_ **

“Holy shit!” Mason jumped back out of fear.

The tablet suddenly projected a blue holographic image of an old man with a wrinkly chin appeared on the screen. For some reason, he was seen wearing a bright purple bunny suit with a yellow stomach.

_“Yo, rad dawgs and kool kats! It’s your boy, Principal Appleseed Johnny. You know, your super hip principal from the class of 2028? Of course, you remember me, how wouldn’t? After all, I am the dankest principal you’ve ever had, right, dawgs and kats? Hahahahahahahahahaha!”_

Mason and Nelson cringed as soon as their old principal started doing disco dance moves from the 90s’.

_“Anyways, if you’re seeing this message, it means it’s time for our annual Treedome High School reunion. That’s right, it’s that time of the year again! Students and their guests are invited to Paris, France for our 14 th high school reunion for a chance to get back together with old friends, old bullies, run into your ex-boyfriends and girlfriends and explain to them why you never called back after so long.”_

Mason glared at his boss, who rubbed his head and gave a nervous chuckle.

_“We’re offering a lot of swag at our get together like snack tables, beverages, and even our very own art contest. Which will feature all of our talented artists from 2028! Don’t be a bum, come join the fun at the 14 th Treedome High School reunion… see ya there, fellow kids!”_

The holographic image disappeared, and a blue light went back inside the metal tablet.

Mason picked it up and stared at it for a few seconds. While he thought the message itself was cringy, he forgot that it’s been seven years since he graduated high school and two years since he got his bachelor’s degree in college. He didn't think he would get an invitation for his high school reunion again, mainly because he hated high school when he was a teenager.

He looked down at the tablet one more time before he chucked it over his shoulder. “Pass!”

“Now, hold on a minute!” Nelson said, he stretched his silver arm out and caught the tablet before it fell in the garbage. “You’re gonna pass on a once in a lifetime opportunity?”

“First of all, high school reunions happen every year, they’re not once in a lifetime. Second, despite the art class I took, I _hated_ that school. It’s the exact reason why our generation will screw this planet into a coma.”

“Oh, come on, it wasn’t _that_ bad.”

“Not bad? _Not bad!?_ You're kidding, right? Everywhere you looked, you saw unfunny memes, teachers dressed like gangsters, and superintendents doing dances from some mobile game!”

“You mean, Fortnite?”

“Don’t speak of that cancer!” Mason took a deep breath, maintaining his equanimity. “Sorry about the rant, but I am not a fan of the teaching staff there. My dad thought of pulling me out of the school because of that, but I said no because A) there were no other high schools in Paris besides that one. And B) I didn’t want to leave that art class because it inspired me to pursue my dream of sculpting. Yeah, I was teased and mocked by some of the more _‘talented’_ students, but still, my art teacher and the class itself helped me out.”

“And if it weren’t for your talent, _I_ wouldn’t have hired a creative person like yourself.”

“Exactly! Thank you, Nelson!”

“However, I feel that we should go back.”

“Why?”

Nelson rubbed his head again and tapped his black fingers together. “You see… when Principal Appleseed Johnny said, _‘get a chance to talk to old loved ones’_ and you glared at me… that reminded me of my boyfriend.”

“Which one? You’ve had a lot during high school.”

“The blonde one.”

“You’ve slept with plenty of blondes, both human and robot, so which one? Be specific.”

“I think his name was Chad or something. I don’t know, I’ve slept with so many men and women that I’ve stopped counting after forty-two… anyways, I need you to come to the high school reunion with me, so I can apologize to him.”

Mason raised an eyebrow. “Why can’t you do that yourself?”

“Well, because… because… uh… it’s because… um…”

Dunnere secretly popped out of his master’s shoulder and shook his head in disgust. He hated the fact that Nelson didn’t give his robotic heart to a single soulmate. The idea of sleeping around with multiple humans and robots, regardless of their gender, made him disappointed in the red robot. He went back inside his master’s body.

And just in time as Nelson figured out his response. “Since you two were friends in high school, you could help me figure out the apology. Because if I do it, I’d say something stupid or offensive.”

“I still think you should do it yourself. He was _your_ boyfriend and you did love him for a short period of time, so I believe you should do it. And besides, I swore to myself that I would never step inside that school ever again. Sorry, Nelson, but my answer is no.”

As Mason walked back to the sculpture, Nelson rubbed his head and moaned.

“I’ll give you a raise.”

Mason turned around and glared at his boss.

Nelson gave an awkward smile. “It could probably get rid of those student loans.”

The young boy shook his head and sighed. “Son of a bitch… fine, I’ll go with you.”

“ _YES!_ ” Nelson cheered, as he started doing a happy dance in the middle of the studio. “Oh! And feel free to bring anyone you want with you! Just in case you wanna show them around later.”

“The only person I would take there is Sydney and trust me when I say this, there’s no way in hell she’d wanna step foot in that school.”

* * *

Inside Mason and Sydney’s apartment in the Cabano Hotel…

The superhero got home not too long ago and told his girlfriend about the whole situation. He even asked her if she wanted to accompany him on his trip to Paris. So, he leaned back and waited for a response along the lines of, “Hell no! I ain’t going back to school!” or “No thanks, I’m busy today.”

But instead, he got a response he didn’t expect.

"Oh, my god! I would absolutely _love_ to go with you!”

“Wait… what?”

Sydney grabbed her boyfriend’s shoulders and sat next to him on their brown couch. “What? Did you think I wouldn’t wanna go back to your high school and see where your artistic talent came from? Come on, Mason, you know me better than that!”

“Sydney, you don’t understand,” Mason grabbed his girlfriend’s arms and gently took them off his shoulder, holding her hands. “That place… is a massive shithole, I don’t want you going in there.”

“Then why are you going, huh?” Sydney gave a sassy smirk.

“Because I have to help Nelson settle some love issues.”

“Have I told you I hate that guy? He’s such a dick.”

“I know, but he pays me well and he’s giving me a raise.”

“But it’s his fault he has no single soulmate. He is what Dion would call, _‘Runaround Sue.’_ But in all seriousness, I wanna go with you. You rarely talk about your old days in high school, so I want to come.”

“Well… look, I-“

“Don’t make me beg.”

“What?”

Sydney got down on her knees and wrapped her arms around Mason’s body, showering him with the same puppy dog eyes her sister always gives.

“Come on, Syd,” Mason rolled his eyes. “Don’t do that. Your sister did that on our camping trip, so I am not falling for it.”

The Spanish girl didn’t care. Her face leaned closer to Mason’s eyes; nothing was in his sight except for her adorable face. Dunnere popped out of Mason’s body and snickered.

The man tugged on his orange hoodie and tried to looking away, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing worked. Sydney’s hug became tighter, her eyes grew bigger, and her face drove closer. She even cried like a dog would, pouting her lips in the process.

“ _Urgh_ …” Mason scoffed. “I guess I have no choice, do I?... Fine, I’ll take you with me.”

“ _YAAAAAAAAAAAAY_!” Sydney cheered, as she hugged Mason again and showered his cheeks with kisses. She finally let him go and took out her cell phone. “I’m so sending a video message to Amber about this! Can she come too?”

“Might as well.”

“Sweet! Love you, babe!” Sydney said, as she dialed her sister’s number and walked into another room.

Mason got off the couch and saw Dunnere struggling to contain his laughter. The black salamander pointed at his master and laughed.

“You know, Dunnere, she drives me up the walls as much as you do,” Mason walked into the kitchen area and took an apple off the fruit bowl on the table. He munched on it and gave another apple to his demon. “But that’s what I love about her.”

**_SLAM!_ **

The door to the apartment suddenly slammed open and loud stomping was heard down the hall. Mason and Dunnere panicked, as they jumped in front of the path and smacked the intruder across the face. The intruder flipped over and fell right on his back.

He was none other than Mason’s best friend… Jerry Vanderhoff.

“Jerry!?” Mason shouted. Dunnere facepalmed himself and shook his head.

“Ah, Verdammt, Mason!” Jerry moaned, rubbing his nose. “I think you broke something besides my spine.”

Reaching his hand out, Mason helped Jerry up on his feet. The dark-skinned man brushed some dirt off his dark green jersey. He flicked a dust bunny off the number 75 on his attire.

“Sorry, Jer, but how about a warning next time?” Mason said. “I thought you were Technolocity or some member of the Void League.”

“Yeah, I should have thought twice about that, lad,” Jerry replied, adjusting his auburn/blonde hair. “But I gotta ask you something. Did you get a letter from Treedome High School by any chance?”

“About the reunion, yep.”

“You ain’t going, are ya?”

Mason nodded.

Jerry was shocked. “Why? Didn’t you swear you’d never step foot in there again?”

“I know, but I have to go to help Nelson apologize to one of his many dates,” Mason said, as he walked over to his couch. “Plus, Sydney wants to see what my art class was like.”

“Typical Nelson. Can’t find a single soulmate to give his non-existent heart to. What a shame.”

“You coming along?”

“To the reunion?”

“Yep.”

Jerry slapped his kneecaps and started laughing as if someone told the funniest joke in the world. He placed his hand against Mason’s shoulder. To which the master and his demon shared a confused glance. The man laughed for a few seconds before he stopped and replied.

“Not to sound overdramatic or anything. Oh, who am I kidding? Hell no, I ain’t going back there! Especially when Nelson’s going. One would have to clean all the pigs at my family farm if they wanted me to go there… sorry, Mason, but there’s nothing is gonna make me step foot in Treedome again!”

“Um… excuse me,” said Sydney’s sister, Amber Connor. She was right outside the apartment. “Hi, Mason. Hi, Jerry.”

Sydney peeked her head around the corner of a room. “Yo, what’s up, sista?”

“I would have knocked, but there seems to be no door, so I’ll just let myself in,” the Caucasian girl tugged her light green shirt and stepped into the apartment itself. “So, when are we leaving for Mason’s reunion?”

“Just as soon as I pack my stuff!” Sydney smiled. She raced upstairs to fetch her belongings.

Jerry’s eyes lit up with amazement. “Wait… you’re going, Amber?”

“Of course, I’d love to see where Mason went to school,” The blonde/green-haired girl smiled. “Are you coming with us, Jerry? I’d love to spend time with you.”

Mason folded his arms. “Sorry, Amber, but he-“

“Is going!” Jerry covered his best friend’s mouth. “Don’t listen to Mason, he’s just nervous that he’s going back to school. Well, I should say that _we’re_ going back to school.”

“Oh, you went there too?” Amber inquired. “Cool! Did you study anything particular?”

“I am a master mathematician. Give me a math equation and I’ll solve it for ya in no less than five seconds.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!”

“I know.”

Mason and Dunnere rolled their eyes. The former took Jerry’s hand off his mouth.

“How about I leave you two love birds alone, so I can pack for my trip,” Mason said with a stern tone in his voice.

“You go do that,” Jerry grinned. As Mason went upstairs to his room, Amber and Jerry sat down on the couch. “So, got any math questions for me? I’ll answer as many as you like.”

“Yeah, why did they mix letters and numbers together?”

Jerry was stunned when he heard that question. He didn’t think anyone in the world knew the answer to that query. “Well… um… it's… well, you see… I think it's because mathematicians wanted to give students a challenge by incorporating two complex topics together to create something new in the educational system, what am I saying? It’s because those old mathematicians were assholes.”

* * *

Upstairs inside her and Mason’s bedroom, Sydney reached into her closet and took out a few shirts and pairs of pants. Even though they were just going to Mason’s high school reunion, she hoped to stay in Paris for a while and explore the place. She had only been camping there and has never seen the actual city herself. She folded her clothes and neatly packed them into her suitcase.

In the process, she looked around her casual looking bedroom. The walls were painted dark gray and there was a large window door that lead to a balcony, giving the viewer a gorgeous look of Seattle itself. The carpet was a light blue while the bed itself was just a normal white mattress. However, there were two blankets on each side. One was a purple blanket with horses on it and the other one was a green blanket with Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it.

There was a bathroom on the left side of the room while the closet sat on the right. Sydney smiled at how dorky her boyfriend’s blanket was and continued setting up her bag.

Around the corner, Mason came in, “talking” on the phone.

“Yeah, I know… uh-huh… I know I promised to help you Nelson, but I just can’t come,” he said. Sydney looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He was smiling throughout his conversation, indicating that he was lying. She silently grunted and shook her head. “I know I made a promise to you, but something came up?... what is it?... well, you see, I promised my dad I’d spent time with him this weekend. He wants to squeeze in a little father/son bonding time, that’s all… great! I’m glad you understand, Nelson.”

Just then, Mason’s phone began to ring.

His eyes widened, as he looked over at his grumpy girlfriend. She folded her arms and raised her eyebrow again.

Mason did nothing but give a massive, guilty smile.

“Nice try, Night Liar,” Sydney said. “How come you don’t wanna go to this thing?”

“It’s… because of my art class,” Mason replied with a low sigh and a frown.

“What? I thought you loved your art class.”

“I do, but throughout the beginning, I was teased and mocked for being different than everyone else. My classmates did artwork that was darker and linked with the emotions of people whereas I did sculptures and dioramas of famous places and stuff you’d see in a stop motion movie.”

“Now, that makes me wanna see your shit even more! And who cares!? It’s not your fault they don’t have as much talent as you do!”

“Funny, that’s what my art teacher said to me,” Mason rubbed the back of his head.

Sydney approached her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around him. “Listen, I know you’re going just because Nelson offered you a raise, but I want you to go because I want you to show me where you got your talent from… you know your artwork is awesome and you shouldn’t let anyone tell you differently.”

Mason nodded and smiled. He remembered being told this many years ago, back when he started out as Night Shadow and was about to graduate high school. He hugged his girlfriend back and bestowed a kiss upon her forehead.

“Bubba Shikka,” he said.

“What?”

“Oh, sorry. That’s a word I made up. For some reason, it keeps me calm when I feel nervous.”

“Bubba Shikka?... Sounds like Night Shadow’s battle cry.”

Mason snapped his fingers. “Maybe it should be!”

Sydney chuckled.

“Look out, villains! Here comes The Sensational Night Shadow! Bubba Shikka!”

Sydney chuckled again and released her boyfriend. “Come on, Bubba Shikka man. Let’s get ready for school.”

“Yes, Masta Comedian!” Mason saluted her as if he was a soldier in the military. He approached his half of the closet and began packing his clothes. Dunnere popped out of his shoulders and nodded to his master. He was proud that he was fulfilling his promise to Nelson and that he was cool with showing Sydney around.

Both the salamander the human fist-bumped before they continued packing.


	2. Chapter 2

**“The Sensational Night Shadow in… The Jacked Up Headless Reunion”**

**Chapter 2**

Created by The Spectacular SpiderDom

* * *

After spending hours getting ready for their trip, Mason and his friends met up with Nelson and all of them piled up in Jerry’s caravan. By traveling across the seas in their flying vehicle, it took them a total of ten hours and five minutes to get to their destination. They were currently flying through traffic.

Flying vehicles honked and beeped at each other, as they flew across the city. Many blinkers clicked non-stop and people were shouting at each other in French. Below them, people who preferred to drive on the ground were doing the same. Pedestrians, both human and robot, strolled across the sidewalks. They were either getting ready for work, school, or they were walking their pets. Some people weren’t walking at all. Instead, they traveled around via sky blue and white hoverchairs.

From where Sydney sat, she was amazed by how different and similar Paris and Seattle were in terms of architecture and technological advancements. One was that the city itself was a lot cleaner unlike Seattle, which was covered in litter in some parts. But the one difference she noticed off the bat was the lack of supervillains.

She was glad that people like Technolocity and the Void League couldn’t bother her; she was still mad about her last camping trip with her friends. But she shook that off and watched Parisians go about their day.

Nelson was tapping his black fingers and rubbing his hands. He was trying to formulate his apology to Chad in his head, but he couldn’t figure out how to do so.

Jerry sat behind the wheel, driving the flying car.

Mason and Amber were playing rock, paper, scissors.

“Rock, paper, scissors, _shoot!_ ”

Mason chose a rock and Amber chose paper.

“Ha! Paper covers rock!” the girl smirked.

“I never understood that,” said the boy. “How does paper beat rock? It’s a god damn rock!”

“Mason, how far are we to your school?” Sydney glanced over her shoulder.

“We should be there soon,” her boyfriend replied, losing to Amber again. “Jerry, you know where to make that turn, right?”

"Yep," said Jerry. "That should be right about… now!"

In the blink of an eye, Jerry turned the trailer to the right and flicked a switch that said _“Down.”_ The brown caravan suddenly positioned its jet boosters downward, as it slowly landed towards a parking spot. Once it touched the road, the doors opened, and all five friends stepped outside with their luggage.

“Oh, my gosh!” Sydney exclaimed. “Your school is so… ugly.”

She was looking at a large brown building covered in nothing but mold. The windows were partly shattered and pieces of wooden hung from the rooftop. Speaking of the roof, half of the shingles were either missing or broken. Bricks scattered the sidewalk beside the doorstep and the doorknob was missing. And finally, the wooden door itself was broken, revealing nothing but darkness on the inside.

“I can’t believe you went here, Mason. It’s so gross.”

“What?” Mason inquired. He looked at the building and shook his head. “Oh, that’s not my school. That’s a bar. My school’s this way.”

“Hurry up, guys!” Nelson said. “I gotta apologize to Chad.”

“Of all the people you’ve slept with, why are only apologizing to Chad?” Jerry asked.

“Because Chad was… well, he was… he… um… well… I tell you later,” Nelson replied, rubbing his head. “Now, come on, we don’t have all day.”

“Keep you robo-panties on, Nelson,” Sydney quipped. “We’re coming.”

Walking down the streets of Paris, everyone made their way over Paris’ park; Place des Vosges. It was beautiful there on a nice day like today. Children were playing in the fields while parents spoke with their distant relatives on their phone tablets. Robots were either taking a romantic stroll with their significant others whereas other robots were drinking alcoholic beverages to keep their systems functional. Not even humans knew the logic behind that.

Sydney and Amber glanced around the park; their eyes were caught by a large fountain that sprinkled water into a pool. The latter whipped out her tablet and snapped a few pictures of the fountain. Sydney leaned on her sister’s shoulder and smiled at the pictures. Both girls glanced at Mason and Jerry, who were trying to locate the entrance to the school.

“Let’s see… if I remember correctly, it was over here, wasn’t it?” Mason asked the German man.

“Ja,” Jerry replied. “It’s by the bushes.”

“How big is your school?” Sydney asked.

“You’ll see, it’s pretty big,” Mason responded. “The entrance is… ah-ha! Here it is!”

Stepping over some bushes, Mason and Jerry looked at the trees next to them and rubbed their hands against the bark. It didn’t take them long to locate a red button on the side of a thick branch. Pushing the button, Sydney and Amber were spooked because the bushes behind them suddenly moved to the side. It revealed a secret underground waterslide.

Both girls were amazed, as their eyes nearly shot out of their sockets. Their jaws dropped to the ground as hard as a rock.

Mason, Nelson, and Jerry glanced at one another before they snuck up behind the ladies. They silently counted to three before they placed their hands in a pushing position.

“An underground waterslide?” Amber said, shockingly.

Sydney gasped. “That is so-“

**_SHOVE!_ **

Without hesitation, all three boys pushed the girls down the hole, as they all landed in the water and began sliding down at rapid speeds.

“Hit it, Boss!” Mason winked.

On Nelson’s shoulder, large speakers popped out and the robot pulled up a holographic screen on his hand. He scrolled through his playlist before he picked the song, _Runnin’ Down a Dream_ by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He smiled, as he also jumped in and rode down the slide.

Jerry and Mason fist-bumped before they joined in on the fun.

Deep in the tunnel, a white tube covered the water slide as a way to keep the dirt from caving in on the entrance. The slide itself was a bright yellow color and bright LED lights hung on the side of the tunnel. Mason and Jerry raised their hands and screamed happily. This was their secret entrance to the school, and it was their favorite memory of their days in high school. The German man tucked on his jersey and waved his fist around like he didn't care. The rush of adrenaline-filled both him and Mason's veins, as they laughed and made a left turn.

Nelson was having just as much fun as they were. Thankfully, he was waterproof, so he was able to ride the waterslide with no problem.

Sydney and Amber, on the other hand, were not having as much fun. They weren't even excited at all. They grabbed onto each other and screamed the whole way down. Moving from the left to the right, up, and down, both sisters closed their eyes and prayed to God that the ride would end soon.

From behind them, they could hear loud music blasting, as Nelson was close behind them. Sydney grunted at him and splashed water on his face, hoping that would fry his circuits. But she remembered he was waterproof, so it was hard for her to laugh at what she did. She continued to hug her sister and scream her head off.

“ _MASON MICHEL MOONSTONE, I’LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!_ ”

“¡Dios mío, Dios mío, Dios mío, Dios mío!” Amber prayed to God in Spanish, as she cuddled beside her sister.

It didn’t take long for there to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Both Conner sisters thought they died and were going to heaven at first, but as soon as they saw a large pool of water waiting for them at the bottom, they held their noses and sucked in a chunk of breath.

Mason and Jerry did the same whereas Nelson turned off his radio.

**_SPLASH!_ **

All five landed into the water at the bottom; the ride was finally over.

Stepping out of the water, Mason and Jerry shook their heads like dogs and water droplets shot out of their hair. They were about to head out and get dried off until they were suddenly attacked, Sydney tackled Mason and wrapped her arm around his head, punishing him with a noogie.

“You asshole!” she ranted. “That was bullshit! You don’t do that to people!”

“I’m sorry!” Mason laughed. “Come on, Syd! It was a joke! Let me go!”

Amber just splashed the heck out of Jerry, who laughed and splashed her back.

“You’re a jerk!” the Caucasian girl said. “Don’t you ever do that again, Jerry David Vanderhoff!”

“Ich entschuldige mich, Amber,” Jerry replied. “But come on, you gotta admit, it was funny.”

Amber splashed the man a few more times before she realized… he was right.

As a result, she began to laugh, as she slapped the water and shook her head. Like Mason and Jerry, water droplets splashed from her hair. Jerry smiled and lightly sighed; Amber looked beautiful when she was smiling. What made her complexion more gorgeous was the fact that a bright and shining sun reflected off her blonde and green hair. Amber fixed her hair and drained more water from her shirt. Meanwhile, Sydney finally released Mason and punched him in the arm.

Nelson rolled his eyes, as he was using hairdryers made from his hands to dry himself off.

“You four are so immature,” he told them.

All four adults glanced at with other with smirks on their faces.

They all splashed Nelson’s face.

Suddenly, five service drones came down and dried off the adults with giant air blowers. Just as they stepped out of the water, the service drones dried them all off and flew away in the distance. Sydney looked at where they were going until she saw something truly spectacular. This time, it wasn’t an ugly, abandoned building like the one she saw in the city, it was something better.

They were transported from the city to a beautiful forest crowded with purple, green, and blue flowers. People and robots walked along a grassy path with stone on the side, making their way over to a giant building in the distance. But there was something unique about the building, it was a tree. A massive tree that had thousands of translucent windows from top to bottom. Branches were hooked up to elevators that lead to different floors. Multi-colored leaves hung from the roof, as they slowly fell off the branches and gently flew towards the ground. Two automatic doors greeted the class of 2028 inside. Some pedestrians were excited to come back whereas others cursed out the banner that hung from the top.

To the right of the building was a garden that housed plants of many varieties; tulips, roses, dandelions, etc. It also had a few benches, a giant lake to swim in, and stone boulders where students could hang out or study for their classes.

On the left was a pathway leading to a forest titled _“Lover’s Forest.”_ It was an ordinary forest, but with red and pink flower petals dropping from the trees nonstop and yellow flowers that were on each side of the path. Couples strolled down there before they went into the school for their reunion.

All of this… was Treedome High School.

“Is… is this?” Sydney inquired, starstruck by the many features included with this place. “Your…”

“Yep,” Mason replied. “This is Treedome High School.”

“How did you hate this place? It’s so beautiful.”

“Visually, it’s a nice school. But I said I hated the educational system it followed. It made us look like an American school.”

“They taught you Common Core?”

“No, but it felt like it.”

“Can we just get moving please?” Nelson whined. “Mason needs to help me apologize to Chad.”

“Again, why can’t you do that yourself?” Jerry asked.

“Because he’s a coward who toys with peoples’ hearts,” Sydney replied.

"Oh, Sydney," Nelson pressed his hand against his chest. "How dare you accuse me of something that's true?"

“All right, all right,” Mason broke up the dispute. “There’s no need to fight,” Mason pulled his girlfriend to the side and whispered in her ear. “Look, I’ll wrap this up in ten seconds and then I’ll show you around the school, all right?”

“Fine,” Sydney nodded, folding her arms. “But you gotta show me _everything_ when you’re done.”

“Deal!” Mason winked with a thumbs up.

“Komm, Freunde. Lassen Sie uns dieses Ding tun!" Jerry smiled, as he and Amber raced towards the building. Mason and Sydney followed while Nelson took a look around his environment, hoping to find his ex-boyfriend somewhere.

* * *

Upon entering the building, Sydney's excitement increased.

She walked into the first floor, where the ground was covered by an Egyptian blue carpet with the school's logo and icons of trees stitched into it. The hallway was wide enough so that thousands of students could have an easy time walking through (assuming no one decides to stop and block the pathway). There were three entrances to the school’s auditorium on the left of the wall and four trophy cases were holding a bunch of trophies for sports competitions, Glee Club tournaments, and pictures of the school’s Circus Club.

But there other cases in the lobby, but they weren't for trophies. Instead, they housed popular artwork designed by the students. From pictures of flowers to murals of celebrities, the cases were filled from head to toe.

As soon as Sydney saw that one, she rushed over to see if Mason’s work was there.

It wasn’t.

Confused, she rubbed her head.

“Where’s all your stuff?” Sydney asked.

“Not sure,” Mason replied. Before he snapped his fingers. “Some of them are at my dad’s house while others are locked away in storage in our apartment. But I’m pretty sure a few of them are inside my old art room.”

“Can you show me?”

“Mason, we gotta find Chad,” Nelson said, looking around for his former loved one.

Mason looked at his boss. "I did promise Sydney I would show her some of my artwork. Would you mind if I did that for a bit before I helped you find Chad?”

Nelson folded his arms. “Who the hell cares about your past? My love life matters more than anything!”

“Your former love life, you mean?” Jerry rolled his eyes.

“Oh, shut up, you robotic pervert,” Sydney folded her arms. “He’ll be back soon. And besides, if you care so much about this Chad person, own up like a man and apologize to him yourself!”

Sydney grabbed Mason’s hand and the two of them walked to the right, where they went up a set of stairs. Amber walked away and placed her hands in her pocket, admiring all of the details of Treedome. Jerry quickly followed.

“Come with me, Amber,” Jerry said, wrapping his arm around Amber’s shoulder. “Allow me to show you around.”

Nelson was left by himself.

He looked at the many adults and robots in the lobby. How was he supposed to find Chad in such a big crowd? Cracking the wires in his fingers, he rolled his eyes and began his search.

“If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.”

* * *

“And this… is where the magic happens,” Mason said. He opened the door to his old art room and allowed his girlfriend to enter. He shut the door behind him and walked into the room. Upon entering, Sydney gasped once again, and her lights lit up like green sparkles.

The room had a white tiled floor with black tables sitting on top of it. On the right were a bunch of green and brown colored cabinets containing art supplies like paint, colored pencils, glue guns, and props artists used to draw still lifes. Three large windows gave the couple a beautiful view of the school’s exterior and against the walls were a bunch of paintings.

Some of them had darker themes that dealt with negative emotions whereas others were drawings of anime characters.

But Sydney didn’t care for any of those, she wanted to find her boyfriend’s work.

Mason did the same thing, but as he looked, he found himself starring at the tables.

As much as he hated high school as a kid, the one thing that made him wake up in the morning was his art class. It was the class that helped him jumpstart his career in sculpting and it helped him get the job he has today: a professional artist.

Dunnere popped out of his shoulder and smiled. He wasn’t there when Mason entered his class for the first time, but he remembered the story. He lightly tapped his master’s cheek and grinned. To which his owner did the same.

They starred. They waited. They had a nostalgic memory.

* * *

_~Nine Years Ago (Treedome High School)_

In the city of Paris, France, 2026…

Before he became Night Shadow, Mason Moonstone was an average fourteen-year-old kid, who was excited to enter his art class at Treedome High School. But he was nervous as well. He was happy to get accepted in a class where he hoped to jumpstart his career as a professional sculptor, but he was also anxious.

He worried that he may fail the class if a project is not done perfectly.

He feared that his work wouldn’t be good enough.

And he was afraid that his teacher or classmates wouldn’t like him for some bizarre reason.

Pulling on his orange V-neck, Mason gulped and felt a pool of sweat pour down his forehead. He and his friend, Nelson Pines, who at the time was a lot shorter than he was today, walked into the classroom. Both had black portfolios in their hands.

"O-oh, my god," Mason stuttered. "I'm nervous, but I'm excited. Does that make sense, Nelson? Like, I am stoked to be in this class because I feel I can learn more about my passion, but at the same time, I'm nervous because I'm afraid I'll mess something up. What if the teacher hates my work so much that he chucks it out the window, it lands in a dumpster, the dumpster explodes, it burns down the school, and I got to jail for not only making shitty artwork but for destroying school property!”

“Mason, you need to relax,” Nelson reassured his friend. “You should worry about what’s important… my complexion. Here, how do I look in these drawings?”

The android flipped open his portfolio and showed it to Mason. The boy squinted his eyes before he jumped back, nearly bumping into someone.

The pictures were nothing, but Nelson surrounded by men and women, both human and robot, and they were all showering him with affection. They were cooking for him, massaging his feet, rubbing his head, fixing some of his broken parts, changing his oil, cleaning the house while he sat on the couch watching TV, they were pretty much-doing life skills Nelson didn't feel like doing on his own. Not only did this slightly make Mason less anxious, but it also made him feel like throwing up. One drawing, in particular, was gonna make him scream if he didn't get away from it fast.

It was an image of Nelson in bed, surrounded by half-naked robotic women.

“Well, thanks, Nelson. I was actually planning on sleeping tonight.”

“I was a bit worried that some parts made me look fat,” Nelson stroked his chin. “But now that I look at them again, I realize that I’m a sexy beast… thanks for your input, Mason. And trust me, you have nothing to worry about.”

As the robot walked through the door, the boy said something in his mind. _Perhaps, I should worry more about Nelson than myself_.

Trying to clear his mind, Mason stepped inside his new classroom, carefully making his way to his seat. He sat in the back so he couldn’t get called on first by the teacher. Everyone else sat close to the front, as they were all eager to show off their creativity.

 _Wonder where the teacher is?_ Mason inquired.

Just then, a lanky, tall man kicked open the door. Everyone jumped at the sight of the man, as he entered the room, showing off his weird fashion sense. He was a white-skinned American man with a Hawaiian shirt and brown khaki’s. With dark black slip-on shoes, the man had bright pink socks and green eyes. Flipping back his short, dirty blonde hair, he took his seat and folded his hands together.

Mason raised an eyebrow. _Is he wearing a Hawaiian shirt? Guess it’s better than that pink bikini my last art teacher had._

“Good morning, students,” the teacher greeted. “My name is Richard Jackson, but you can call me Richie for short. Yeah, I’m not gonna let you guys call me _‘Mr.”_ or _“professor”_ that just sounds weird to me. Anyways, welcome to Advance Art Class, where I'm gonna show you the true meaning of art, so that way, all of you can find your artistic voice! Now, over the summer, I sent you all letters about you all making a portfolio that contains some of your best work. Assuming all of you brought them today, I'll be grading them based on creativity, personality, and technique. It would also give me a good first impression of all of you. So, who would like to go first?"

“Oh, oh, oh, me first!” a brunette French girl raised her hand. She adjusted her pink blouse and pulled down her white shirt. She began to walk towards the teacher as if she were a queen, shoving other students to the side. Slamming her portfolio on the table, she whipped her hair back and gazed her topaz eyes into the teachers, making him uncomfortable.

Mason gulped, as he felt his hands shake. _Of course, Virginia Blanc would go first._

“Hello, sir,” the teenage girl said. “My name’s Virginia Blanc and I’m here to show you some artwork that’s worth your time. Trust me when I say this, you won’t need to bother with these other losers once you see my work.”

"Sounds like we have an egomaniac in this class," Richard gently facepalmed. "Let's see what you got."

Pulling the portfolio towards him, Richard opened it up and was greeted to a painted portrait of the artist walking down the road with a bright pink dress and a pair of sunglasses. Around her shoulder was a purse with a poodle sitting inside.

Confused, Richard flipped through the next few pages and saw nothing but contour drawings of Virginia doing various activities. She was singing on stage, where she was surrounded by people who had hearts for eyes. There was another where she sat on a golden throne made of gold and there were three black and white drawings of her walking down the street, where she was being followed by men, who chased after her with boxes of chocolates and roses.

But the one thing that caught Richard’s eyes was that the same poodle from the first page was in every single piece.

“You seem to have a fascination with being full of yourself as well as this dog,” Richard claimed. He scanned through more pages, which were nothing but poodle pictures. “In fact, all of these are poodle pictures. I assume you have one?”

“No, I have a chocolate Labrador, but I don’t like him because I wanted a French poodle. My parents suck at getting me good gifts.”

It was at that moment where a few tears dripped down the girl’s face like a waterfall. She wiped her eyes and waved her hands, trying to blow away the tears. As if he wasn’t freaked out enough, Richard nearly jumped out of his chair when he heard rapid sniffing coming from Virginia’s nose. Mason cringed at this and took a few steps back, thinking she was a bomb about to explode.

“Are you okay, Miss?” Richard inquired.

Virginia cried. "I don't have a perfect life. I never get what I want despite how talented and good I am. I once auditioned for the role of Sandy in this school's production of Grease, but instead, I got picked for the role of Rizzo."

“But that’s a great role though.”

"I don't give a shit!" Virginia continued waving her eyes, crying and sniffing. “I do so much for this community… this school… my family… I’m talented than everyone in this room, yet I can never get what I want… I wanted a poodle: a French poodle, but all I got was a Labrador… it makes me so sad… why doesn’t anyone understand me?”

Richard glanced over at his students. Mason chuckled at his teacher’s face before he watched him face the crying baby. “Tell ya what, sweetie,” Richard said with a smile. “Why don’t we pretend all of this crying shit never happened and I’ll give you a B on this portfolio, deal?”

“ _WHAT!?_ A B!? I wanted an A!”

“Not with that attitude, sweetheart. Next!”

Virginia angrily grabbed her artwork and walked back to the seat.

Next up was a muscular teen with a black shirt, red shorts, and white sports tape around his wrist. He had dark skin with brown hair and wore navy blue jogging pants. Nelson’s eyes lit up when he saw this guy walk by. Using his advanced optic vision, he zoomed in on the kid’s rear end and snapped a picture.

“Oh, yeah. That’s a keeper,” he smirked.

The boy placed his portfolio on the table. “Hey there, Teach. The name’s Chad, Chad Brady and I got my portfolio for you.”

“Perfect! Let’s see it!” Richard nodded. He took the portfolio and scanned through it. They were all pictures of Chad working out in the gym as well as portraits of his family tree. “Wow. Love your details into the portraits. The faces pop out and I especially love your blind contours… I'm giving this an A+.”

“Thanks, Teach,”

“Next!”

Chad walked to the side, giving another Nelson a chance to step up in line.

“I think you’ll find something exquisite about my portfolio,” Nelson commented with a wink, as he handed his work to the teacher. Richard shrugged his shoulders and read through the work. Upon looking at the first page, Richard slammed the portfolio shut and handed it back.

"F, that's definitely an F!"

"Ha! Clearly, you don't know true art at its finest."

Nelson grabbed his work and walked away, leaving Mason to step forward in line. But the boy wasn’t as confident as the other three students were. His body shook, his knees buckled, and his brain was on fire.

“You okay, kid?” Richard inquired.

"Fine, I am," Mason replied. "Crap. I mean I'm fine… the portfolio is here."

“Okay?” Richard raised an eyebrow. Before he could ask for the student’s name, he looked at the bottom right corner of the portfolio, seeing the kid’s name. “Mason Moonstone? Ah, you’re Atticus’s kid. He’s told me about you.”

“You know my dad?”

“Of course. Him and I met at a bar two weeks ago. He’s told me about how creative you are and how intelligent you’ve become over the years. Let’s see if your father was right about you.”

_Dear God… he’s gonna hate my work. Maybe I should just leap out the window and blow this joint!_

Richard opened the portfolio and was greeted to something he didn’t expect.

The first page was a picture of a Monsoon Gal sculpture. It sat next to another picture of a Pyro Lad sculpture. But those two weren’t the only ones there. As Richard flipped through the book, he was greeted to all sorts of close up photos of different wood, stone, and marble sculptures as well as Stop Motion movie-style sets with puppets posed in different positions. The one that gave Richard chills was one where three puppets were in a dark hotel hallway, running from a swarm of darkness. Fake blood was painted over the walls and other puppets lied dead on the floor. With dark lighting and emphasis on shadows, Richard rubbed his shoulders and smiled.

Looking through the rest of the portfolio, Richard closed it up and handed it back to Mason.

“Well… looks like your father was right about you; however, I do believe there’s room for improvement… how does a B sound to you?”

Mason took a breath of relief and nodded. All of the stress flew out of his body. He would’ve been happier of he received a higher grade; however, he was glad he didn’t get as low as Nelson.

“Thank you, Mr. Jackson.”

“Please… call me Richard… I look forward to seeing more from you, Mason Moonstone.”

* * *

_~Present Day_

“Mason?... Mason?... Mason!?”

The superhero shook his head, getting out of his daydream. Dunnere chuckled at the sight of his master waking up. Both looked over at Sydney, who was still lurking around the room.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Mason replied. “Just… old memories popping up, that’s all.”

“And I thought you didn’t have any good memories from school,” Sydney teased her boyfriend.

“Hey, I said my art class was the only good memory I had. Sure, I had some ups and downs in that class, but it was the one that helped me become who I am today,” the boy shrugged. “You like what you see so far?”

“I’m loving this so far, but I gotta ask… where’s your artwork? Some of it has to be here, yes?”

“It’s around here somewhere. They’re probably somewhere in the ba-“

"Yo, be careful with that!" a gruff shout interrupted the conversation. Dunnere turned around and tilted his head to the right. Outside the door, he watched two custodians knock over a wooden crate from a four-wheel wagon. The janitor snarled at his co-worker, as he picked the box up.

“Dude, come help me with this! This thing’s freakin’ heavy!”

“Then, put your back into it! Come on, you’re a man! Lift the damn thing!”

The janitor placed the box on the dolly.

“See, was that so hard?”

“Shut the hell up, man.”

Dunnere tapped his master on the shoulder and pointed him to the quarreling janitors. Mason glanced at his demon before they both exchanged a nod.

“Something wrong?” Sydney asked.

“I’m pretty sure the plot’s getting started,” Mason replied. “There’s a closet in the back of the room. My work should be in there. I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes, I need to go check this up.”

Watching her boyfriend walk out the door, Sydney raised an eyebrow before she turned to a door on her right. She opened the door and found herself in a room filled with thousands of boxes stacked on top of each other.

“Okay,” Sydney said, cracking her fingers. “Let’s play a game of hide and seek, shall we?”

* * *

Lurking around the hallway, Mason and Dunnere pressed themselves against the corner of a wall, watching the two janitors walk down the hall. They could hear them talk as they walk.

“Can’t believe this thing hasn’t been destroyed yet,” one janitor said. “It’s been sitting in the cafeteria freezer for years.”

“And surprisingly, it’s not cold enough in there,” the second janitor replied. “That student ordered us to take it down to the basement. Since when did we take orders from students?”

“Since it meant protecting our asses. Could you imagine what would happen if the authorities found out what was inside here?”

“Then, let’s just blame the students for it. They cause all the shit that happens around here.”

Both interlocutors opened the door to the basement and went through. Mason and Dunnere walked down the corner and watched as the door slowly shut.

Looking at his demon, the man folded his arms and unzipped his hoodie, revealing the top half of his Night Shadow suit. “It’s moments like this where I’m glad I wear my suit under my clothes.”

* * *

In the basement, both janitors heard more yelling from their co-workers. They walked down the hall and noticed that they were struggling to open the door. There a label on the top that read, _“MYSTERY MEAT LOCKER_.”

“What’s going on here?” one janitor inquired.

“This thing ain’t budging!” a chubby custodian with a white beard snarled. “It’s frozen shut!”

“This isn’t the time for puns, you idiot!” a skinny janitor replied. “Put your back into it!”

“I’m not making puns!” said the chubby worker. “Just help me get this freakin’ thing open before the thing melts in the box!”

All the custodians gathered together and grabbed onto their friend’s back. They each pulled together, hoping all of their combined efforts would open the freezer. As they yelled, struggled, and felt sweat pour down their heads, the sound of someone whistling distracted them.

It was Night Shadow.

Each janitor exchanged a look at the superhero, then at the door, then back at the hero. Their eyes were nearly bulging out of their sockets. Releasing their friend’s back, they all gathered together and stood with shock. The black and blue superhero was onto them, meaning they knew they were screwed.

“What’s shakin’, bacon?” questioned the superhero, as he leaned on the wooden box. “What’s in the box, boys?”

“Ah, crap!” the skinny janitor stroked his orange mustache out of nervousness. “It’s Night Shadow! He’s gonna rat us out to the cops!”

“Will you shut up, you idiot!?” the chubby worker slapped the mustached man over the head. “When you say stuff like that, he’s gonna become more suspicious.”

“Why are you taking this thing down to the meat locker?” Night Shadow asked again. “Is there something in here I should know about?”

“Nothing that concerns you, freak!” a white-haired custodian snarled. “Trust me when I say this, Night Shadow, this is none of your business. Leave now or else…”

“Didn’t think you guys would be the threatening type. You know, we don’t have the end this with a fight. Just tell me what’s in the box, so I can get out of here and show my girlfriend some artwork. Plus, my boss needs unnecessary assistance with his ex-boyfriend. Can we just get this over with so I can get on with my life?”

All seventeen janitors in the room glanced at one another. They then reached behind them and took out different materials: brooms, mops, dustpans, spray bottles, and other cleaning materials. Like ninjas, they all gathered around Night Shadow, making sure he doesn’t escape with the truth.

“Looks like my life’s gonna have to wait… again.” Night Shadow groaned, as he reached for his two Sai.

One janitor swiping a broomstick made the fight begin.

Night Shadow ducked underneath the broom and sliced it in half with his weapon. He then twirled his blades around, smacked the bushy-bearded man with the butt of his Sai three times, and fired an uppercut to finish him off.

Two custodians came up from behind and threw nothing but punches and kicks. With the help of Dunnere making dark tentacles pop out his master's back, Night Shadow deflected each blow from high and low. Right before a chain of darkness wrapped his arms, which formed two fists, and he fired a punch against both janitors' stomachs. The fists retracted, as Night Shadow sensed that someone was rushing up from behind.

The pounding of his heartbeat was so loud, one could mistake it for a church bell.

Turning around, Night Shadow prepared to engage before he was sprayed in the face with a cleaning substance.

This did not affect him whatsoever.

Folding his arms, Night Shadow stood still while the janitor sprayed his goggles.

After a few seconds passed, the man realized that his methods didn’t work.

“Why isn’t this working?” he inquired. “You should be screaming in pain!”

“You maroon!” someone called from behind. “He’s wearing goggles!”

“He is?” the janitor looked at Night Shadow’s neutral expression. “Oh… you see, I thought those were his actual eyes-“

Night Shadow disarmed the man and kicked him in the stomach. He held the spray bottle tight, as he placed both Sai back in their holsters. More curators charged at him like raging bulls.

Spraying one custodian in the face, Night Shadow kicked him to the side and slid between another janitor’s legs. He tripped the man on his feet and kicked him into three other janitors.

“Strike!” Night Shadow cheered, as he ducked below someone swiping a broomstick. Turning around, he saw that he was encountering a larger janitor with a chubby stomach, white beard, and violet eyes that stared deep into his soul. Even Dunnere had to gulp at that sight. Night Shadow rolled to the side, avoiding another attack, as he jumped on the man’s shoulders and reached into his pocket, pulling out a washcloth. He then began to spray and wipe the man’s forehead.

“Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off,” joked the superhero. The janitor grabbed him and chucked him off his shoulders, but he didn’t expect the hero to land on his feet. Rushing towards the behemoth, Night Shadow knocked out more workers with ease before he slid directly under the custodian’s punch. He took turns jabbing his gut and spraying the back of his head. “Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off. Wax on…”

Dodging more attacks, Night Shadow disarmed someone with a broomstick and jumped onto the man’s shoulders.

Spinning the broomstick around, the superhero jumped up and slammed it against the janitor’s head.

“Lights off!”

**_WHAM!_ **

The behemoth custodian fell on his face. His eyes closing indicated that he was down and out.

Some of the other janitors that didn't fight ran past the superhero and dashed back upstairs. They didn't want to get their rears handed to them as their friends did, so they decided to beat it. Night Shadow spun the broomstick around like a bo-staff once more before he placed it against the ground. He and Dunnere exchanged a nod before they glanced around the unconscious bodies surrounding the room.

“There we go, all clean!” Night Shadow gently placed his make-shift weapon against the wall. He and Dunnere then went straight towards the box. “Now, let’s see what we got inside here.”

Jabbing his Sai into the lid, Night Shadow pried the box open. “Knowing this school, it’s probably some candy made out of chemicals I’ve never heard of.”

Upon lifting the lid and looking inside, Night Shadow’s face was blown with an icy breeze. Below was a large cube covered in a dirty, brown sheet. As soon as he picked up the cube, he realized that it was a lot heavier than it looked. He placed it down on the ground and kneeled to its level. Dunnere walked across his master’s arm, wanting to get a closer look at what was inside.

Night Shadow and Dunnere opened the sheet… and they just stood there.

They didn’t make a peep, they didn’t move a muscle, and they didn’t think deep.

It was hard for them to think at all. What they were looking at was truly shocking. It was something they never thought they'd see in their high school reunion, or _any_ reunion for that matter.

Dunnere meticulously crept back up his master's arm before he rushed over to his shoulder, hiding from what was behind the sheet. As for his master, he couldn't hide at all. He prayed for a way to get out of this and he wished that candy made from unknown chemicals was in that box… but instead, he was greeted to something else. Something that he'd never dealt with in his nine years of being a superhero.

Inside the cube was the frozen, decapitated head… of Principal Appleseed Johnny.

“ ** _WHAT THE F****************************************CK!_** ”


	3. Chapter 3

**“The Sensational Night Shadow in… The Jacked Up Headless Reunion”**

**Chapter 3**

Created by The Spectacular SpiderDom

* * *

As Night Shadow makes a fascinating discovery in Paris, a man was in the middle of a robbery down in Seattle.

He was a middle-aged man and good looking too. With blonde hair and green eyes, he wore a white jacket and a black shirt with purple stripes on it. Sweat poured from his head and down to his emerald green jeans, which made its way down to his socks and soaked his brown shoes. He was held at gunpoint in an alleyway on 1420 5th Ave. All he wanted to do was get home from a lousy day at work, but instead, he had to deal with this.

Holding him hostage was an Italian man who was a lot older than he was. Scars covered most of his face and a mole was seen on the right side of his cheek. He wore a black sweater, gray pants, and a gray beanie. Wrapping his fingerless, black gloves around his gun, he howled at the man and laughed.

“Come on, ya baby," the burglar taunted the man. "Give me that watch."

“N-no!” the middle-aged man shouted in retort. “M-my wife gave this to me! I’m not letting it go!”

“Listen, kid,” the old man scoffed. “I ain’t askin’. I’m orderin’ you to give that watch. If you don’t hand it over in the next five seconds, your ass is grass, ya hear me? So, what’s it gonna be-?”

**_SWOOSH!_ **

**_SLAM!_ **

A loud stomp caused the robber to lose his focus, which resulted in the hostage's escape.

“What the!? _Ey!_ I ain’t done with you!” the robber aimed his gun high and cocked it. But before he could fire, the chain of a nunchuck wrapped around the man’s weapon, yanking the man on his stomach. As he collapsed, the gun whisked away into the shadows, where it was caught by someone lurking about.

It didn’t take long for the figure to step out of the darkness, revealing his true identity.

Pyro Lad snapped the gun in half and burned away the metal with his pyrokinetic powers. He placed his nunchucks back in his pouch. His scarf blew against the breezy wind and his facial expression showed that he wasn’t in the mood for this; he was angry.

Normally, one would be intimidated by the act that Pyro Lad was here, not this robber. Jumping up on his feet, he brushed off his filthy pants and locked his eyes onto Pyro’s yellow and orange costume. He watched as the hero adjusted his shoulder cape.

“Are you kiddin’ me?” the thief cackled softly, leaning against the wall. He made a choking gesture with his hand. “I had a neck in my hand… I liked it… I miss it… you’re my new neck.”

Pyro Lad causally walked forward. “Are you the one?... because there’s one in every alleyway, isn’t there?... So, in this particular street corner, you’re…”

“Yeah, it’s me.” The thief replied. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette with a lighter. Placing the stick in his mouth, he lit the tip of it and coughed a huge puff of smoke from his lips. “Whatcha gonna do about it, freak?”

Pyro Lad took a deep breath; he hated the word _freak_. Every time he heard it; he’d always have a desire to rip someone’s eyes out. But of course, he was not like that. Closing his eyes and breathing, he opened them back up and looked down at the man’s black boots. “I couldn’t help but notice your pointy boots. I was born in Arizona but raised in Texas. And back in Texas, I learned a thing or two about a nice pointy boot.”

Molten, a tiger-like demon, popped out of his master’s shoulders and gave him a deadly grin.

It was at that moment where Pyro Lad snapped his fingers.

**_HISS!_ **

“ _Gah!_ What the hell!?” the robber shouted, as his cigarette suddenly lit itself on fire. He spat it out of his mouth and watched it land on the floor. The white paper burned into ash in a split second.

Not only was the robber awestruck, but he was distracted by the fact that Pyro Lad came in for an attack. With two jabs, one single punch, and a powerful volley kick, Pyro Lad knocked the man into the puddles that scattered the garbage-filled ground.

“They can end a fight real quick,” Pyro Lad continued, sneering down upon the criminal. “Unless someone’s nice enough to put their heel on the soft part where all of your toes are.”

Rubbing his chin, the criminal glared at the hero. “Dude… that’s so dark!”

Getting up, the robber reached for his pocketknife and began slashing upon Pyro Lad’s stomach. But thanks to the Firestarter’s swift agility, he evaded every attack. Molten crawled back inside his master’s body, as Pyro Lad’s hands started to ignite with fire. He grabbed the knife and burnt it into a silver ooze that showered the ground. The robber gasped before he was kicked in the gut. With his face being grabbed, Pyro Lad slammed him against the nearest window before he smashed the criminal onto the ground.

The criminal’s clothes were wet from the puddles.

Pyro Lad stepped on the criminal’s right leg and grabbed both his arms, yanking them back. But to his surprise, the Italian man only let out a small snarl; he didn’t weep.

But with that weep came a sudden cackle.

“Now, I’m sure you’re one to not go down so easily. Except I got both your arms and I’m as strong as a bull,” Pyro Lad snarled. “I don’t even work at it. I just am.”

The criminal laid his face against the ground. “From the way I see it… all that matters is what happens when you let go… freak!”

Pyro Lad grunted before he took another breath. “Yeah… I know it’d be simpler to do what we just did; stand around like two jackasses and start blowing shots at each other, but I’m gonna tell you something, and trust me, you’re gonna wanna hear this… In the end… you’re gonna be the one on the floor… and I’ll be the one walking away.”

Just then, a female voice interrupted the conversation.

“Wow, Pyro. You’re so edgy.”

“Jesus Christ… not tonight.”

Monsoon Gal stood on the rooftop of a building just above the donnybrook. With her staff twirling, she summoned the water from the puddles below to her level. She formed herself a slide, as she jumped onto it and the water carried her down to where her partner was.

“Where have I heard that line before?” the hydrokinetic female inquired, as she steadily flowed water around her body. “Oh, yeah… you stole that line from Girl Meets World. How do I know this? Well, it’s because my roommate, Lyra, and I watch it every night before we head to bed.”

“Now isn’t the time for jokes or pop culture references, MG,” Pyro Lad replied. “I’m in the middle of teaching this pile of scum a lesson!”

“Well, ain’t you a sight for sore eyes,” the thief flited with the blue-costumed heroine. “That suit brings out the hazel in your eyes."

“Shut up!” Pyro Lad slammed his foot against the criminal’s back. “You and I aren’t finished.”

“Yes, you are,” Monsoon Gal replied. She waved her hand and made the water latch onto the criminal’s body, pulling him under her partner’s feet. Moving the criminal towards her, she gazed into the man’s eyes and glared.

“My, my,” the thief continued flirting. “May the lady bestow a kiss upon my cheek?”

Instead of a kiss, Monsoon Gal head-butted the man before she made the water chuck him over her shoulder. A sudden crash indicated that he landed against a pile of garbage bags. With the water going inside a small capsule the heroine kept on her belt, Monsoon Gal approached Pyro Lad while putting her staff in its holster.

“Show off,” Pyro Lad folded his arms. “I was in the middle of something.”

“You know we were supposed to patrol as a team, right, Steven?” Monsoon Gal inquired.

“How many times must we discuss this? By day, you call me by my name, Steven Adara. But when we’re in costume, you call me Pyro Lad. I don’t walk around and call you by your name when we’re in costume, do I?”

Monsoon Gal rubbed her face and moaned. “Sometimes, I think you take this job a bit too seriously.”

“I’ve always been serious about this job.”

“Yeah, but ever since Billy-“

“Don’t speak of that asshole’s name! You know I don’t feel comfortable talking about him,” Pyro Lad began to walk off from the alleyway until Monsoon Gal stopped him.

“Wait… it’s okay… I know you’re still hurting from Billy’s departure.”

“Betrayal is what you meant to say, now let go of my arm.”

“You know you have friends to help you through it, right? Mason, Lyra, me?”

“Please, let go…”

“Pyro,”

“ _Alyssa Cordelia, let go of my god damn arm!_ ”

Monsoon Gal did what she was told and took a few steps back. Aqua, a dolphin-like demon, popped out of her shoulders and whimpered in fear. Both her and her master didn’t like it when Steven would lash out at them like that, especially when Billy was the topic.

As for Pyro Lad, he took a few heavy pants before he realized that he acted out of character. Yes, he did have scenarios where he got angry to the point where he'd lash out at friends and family, but in the end, he always felt bad for doing so. As he believed it would make him no different than the criminals he apprehended.

Molten shook his head and pointed at the royal blue-costume woman as if to say, _"You better apologize to her, Steven. That wasn't cool."_

Understanding the demon’s gesture, Pyro Lad walked towards his partner and held out his hand as an act of peace. “I… apologize for my behavior… and for calling out your name… I’m sorry, MG… I shouldn’t have shouted at you like that, as you were just trying to comfort me… When Billy left… I…”

“It’s okay,” Monsoon Gal replied, holding her partner’s hands. She soon wrapped herself in his arms and hugged him. “You don’t have to tell me now… I already know.”

Taking another deep breath, Pyro Lad hugged his best friend back. The two demons on their shoulders exchanged a nod and a smile.

But unfortunately, the touching moment was interrupted once Monsoon Gal’s phone went off.

“Sorry, Pyro,” she apologized, as she whipped out her phone and answered the call. “Hello?”

It was Night Shadow and he sounded like he’d just witnessed a murder… in which he sort of did.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Monsoon Gal motioned her hand as if she told Night Shadow to calm down. “Slow down there, NS. What happened?”

Night Shadow explained what occurred in a petrified manner.

“You found the head of your principal where?”

Pyro Lad raised both his eyebrows.

“Okay, NS. Slow down… where are you?”

She was told the location.

“Got it. Pyro and I are on our way. Just stay calm and we’ll meet you as fast as we can, okay?... Cool, bye!” Monsoon Gal hung up the phone and placed it back in her pocket. “Mason’s at his high school reunion and he just found out the principal was murdered. His head’s been frozen for God knows how long and the janitors tried to cover it up. Well, Mason told me that a student told them to hide it down in the basement.”

“Why is that Mason is always the one to get himself in predicaments like this?” Pyro Lad inquired.

“Because he’s Night Shadow. What do you expect?”

“Fair enough.”

“Come on, Pyro. Last one to Paris is a rotten egg!”

“God damn it,”

Both elemental warriors took off in the speed of light, using their powers to glide across the night sky.

* * *

Night Shadow walked down the hallway with Principal Appleseed Johnny’s head in his arms. He had no idea what to do with it, so he decided to take it with him. He’d been roaming down the basement for fifteen minutes, impatiently waiting for his heroes to help him out.

Not only did he feel scared, but he felt embarrassed.

“This is humiliating,” he puffed, as he continued walking. Dunnere listened closely. “I’ve been Night Shadow for nine years; I shouldn’t have to call upon Monsoon Gal and Pyro Lad to help me solve my problems. But I’ve never encountered something like this before. Pyro Lad helped me solve a few human trafficking mysteries a few times and I’ve teamed up with Monsoon Gal to rescue a bunch of women from some psycho, but this is a first for me! What else was I supposed to do!?”

Dunnere poked his master’s cheek and communicated with him through sign language. _“Mason, calm down. You had no other choice. Besides, you don’t have to do everything by yourself. There’s nothing wrong with asking for a bit of help, even if you’ve had nine years of experience.”_

Calming down, Night Shadow took a deep breath and smiled at his demon. “Yeah, I guess you’re right, buddy… sorry about that.”

The superhero held the frozen head of his principal in his hands, analyzing it for any clues that may lead him to what happened. "Poor Principal Appleseed Johnny… you were stupid, but you didn't deserve this… wonder what happened to you.”

 _“Mason,”_ Dunnere signed. _“What’s that sound?”_

**_BAM!_ **

A pile of debris crashed onto the ground, scaring both heroes. They jumped backward and watched a smoke spewed from the ceiling. A familiar figure came levitating down from above, whistling a sinister tune

Technolocity: Night Shadow’s arch-nemesis landed on the ground in a superhero fashion, finishing his whistle. He then extended his palms and bowed as if an audience was watching him.

“T-Technolocity!?” Night Shadow shouted.

“At your service,” bowed the supervillain.

Just then, a red vortex followed by a smooth flute harmony came out of the blue. Melody: Member of the Void League, whirled her instrumental weapon and struck a battle pose.

“Melody!?” Night Shadow yelled again.

A purple streak of lightning struck right next to the musical minion.

“Tender Soul!?”

Another figure came in from the broken ceiling. Extending a large cape made of feathers, the figure's white bodysuit with brown straps around his chest, arms, and legs was revealed. The red eyes on his crow mask frightened Dunnere.

“Raven!?... hey, shouldn’t there be one more?”

A loud crash from the wall caused more rubble to shoot to the side. Night Shadow jumped again and quickly looked in that direction, where a large pink arm was stuck in the wall. He knew who that was.

“Whoops… hang on,” said the female voice on the other side. “Let me try that again.”

She shot her left leg through the wall and got the same result; she was trapped in there like a fox in a cage.

“Damn it!... hold on.”

She shot her forehead through the wall instead, revealing herself as Mojo the Pink Gorilla. Looking down at her toes, she realized that her third attempt at a dramatic entrance wasn’t going as well as she’d hoped for.

“I’ll be with y’all in a second.”

“Seriously-Mojo?” Tender Soul asked. He spoke as fast as he could run.

“We rehearsed this _three times_!” Technolocity gently facepalmed and moaned. “Come on, Void League, let’s help her out.”

Technolocity, Melody, Tender Soul, and Raven grabbed onto Mojo’s body and pulled. It didn’t take long for their combined strength to completely pull her through, where she fell right on top of Tender Soul. Raven and Melody cringed when they saw that, as they helped Mojo on her feet.

The technological villain drew his attention to his nemesis.

“Finally, we meet again, Night Shadow! With the help of my powerful Void League and some modifications I made to my suit, I will steal your superpowers and I shall-“ the villain stopped talking as soon as he laid his eyes upon the frozen head in Night Shadow’s hands. His eyes widened and his digital mouth dropped to the bottom of his computer screen. The rest of the Void League glanced at the head as well. All of them, even Raven, were shocked.

Technolocity, Tender Soul, and Mojo screamed at the top of their lungs. “ ** _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_** ”

“T-trust me, it’s not what it looks like!” Night Shadow pleaded. But he could tell his enemies didn’t care.

“Oh-my-god!” Tender Soul shouted.

“Yo, man! That’s low! That’s disgusting! It’s disgusting and low!... It’s disgustingly low!” Mojo grunted, as she covered her mouth to prevent herself from throwing up.

“Holy Jesus, Night Shadow! I can’t believe you murdered somebody!” Technolocity huffed and puffed, as he began to pace himself back and forth.”

“Techno, I can explain-“

“What’s there to explain, huh!? You sliced someone’s head off and you’re keeping it frozen in the school’s basement! How could you do this to someone!? You know, this is the reason I became a supervillain! Because I was worried shit like _this_ was gonna happen! _Argh!_ It's official, superheroes are gonna kill us all!"

“But-“

“We’re all doomed. Armageddon is upon us!”

“But, but-“

"I can't believe I didn't try harder to steal you and the other superheroes' powers! I knew I should've been as a serious villain! Why must I act like such a huge goofball-!?”

“ ** _AHHHHHHHHHHHH SHADDUP!_** ”

Night Shadow slammed the bottom of the frozen canister against Technolocity’s head, causing him to feel dizzy. The supervillain toppled over and fell on his rear, where stars and butterflies shaped like his nemesis flew around his forehead.

“If you’d all stop acting crazy and listen to me, you’d find out what happened!” Night Shadow grunted. To which, Dunnere nodded. “I didn’t kill this man.”

Melody whipped out her flute, activated the red-beamed blade, and pointed it towards Night Shadow’s throat. “Like we’ll believe anything you say, murderer!”

“Take a chill pill, Melody. I know I didn’t do it.”

“Then I guess you wouldn’t mind if I used my lie detector to help out!” Technolocity pointed. He pressed a button on a keyboard located on his left arm and formed a small lie detector on the top of his wrist. He quickly scanned Night Shadow and a green light emulated from the top, indicating that the superhero was in the clear.

“ _Phew!_ False alarm, everybody!” Technolocity said with a heavy sigh, as he wrapped his arm around his nemesis. “He’s good, he didn’t do it. Ha-ha. I knew you could never murder someone, Night Shadow. Never doubted you for a second, buddy.”

“Where did you find this?” Melody inquired.

"I found in a box that was being taken to the meat locker. Some janitors said something about a student wanting them to take it downstairs because the cafeteria freezer wasn't keeping this thing cold enough."

“Sounds to me like this head’s been here for a long time.” Melody stroked her chin.

“I agree,” Raven whispered. “Night Shadow, may I see the canister?”

The superhero gently handed it over to the walking crow. Raven analyzed the features of both the frozen cube and the head inside, trying to look for clues. Spinning the cube so he could look at the bottom, he began reading some of the barcodes.

“What are ya lookin’ for?” Mojo asked, scratching her head.

“Sometimes, there’s a date that records the date, time, and year the cooling started. But it looks like the barcodes were scratched and rubbed off, meaning either they were old and wrinkly, or somebody doesn’t want anyone to find out about this. But judging from the looks of the head, you could tell its been frozen for a long time… Night Shadow, did the custodians mention the student’s name.”

“Nope,” Night Shadow shook his head.

“Well then, we have our first clue at least. It was a student who did this.”

"Impossible," Technolocity shook his head. "I've been to this place before and trust me, it's whack. But the students here would think twice before committing murder, especially to their school principal. Hell, they wouldn't even murder someone, they would just shower them with memes and dance moves from the internet."

"Something fishy is going on here," Melody added. "Who would want to kill the school principal?"

“I’m not sure,” Night Shadow took the head from Raven. “That’s why I’m going to find out.”

“Then, allow us to accompany you,” Technolocity smiled with a bowing gesture. “The Void League and I are great at solving mysteries. For instance, they helped me find my missing TV remote.”

“Which-was-left-in-the-bathroom.” Tender Soul chuckled.

“I ain’t letting you all help me,” Night Shadow retorted. “You tricked me during my camping trip, I’m not falling for that again.”

“This isn’t a trick this time, Night Shadow,” Raven spoke softly. “Trust me when I say that. Normally, Tender Soul would spoil if Technolocity was up to one of his schemes.”

“It’s-true-I-once-spoiled-the-Glee-reboot-for-everybody-and-they-threw-rocks-at-me,” Tender Soul added. Technolocity threw a small pebble at him.

“Why are we bothering with this?” Melody inquired. “If he doesn’t want our help, then that’s that.”

“Because something tells me we may share a common enemy,” Raven replied. “Night Shadow, I know we’re your enemies, but if we don’t work together, this mystery will remain unsolved.”

The superhero turned his red eyes over to his demon.

 _“I know a lie when I hear it and they’re right,”_ Dunnere signed. _“Believe me, Mason. It’s hard to trust them after they’ve been our enemies for so long and I know you were tricked during your camping trip; however, Raven’s right on the whole common enemy thing. We have no other choice but to work with them… good lord, I really said that, didn’t I?”_

Night Shadow nodded and turned to the Void League. “Fine… but if you’re lying to me, I’m kicking you right where it hurts.”

“Deal!” Technolocity nodded, as he shook hands with his nemesis. “So, where should we look first?”

"How about the principal's office," Melody suggested. "That could lead us somewhere."

* * *

“You like what you see, Amber?” Jerry asked, as he and Amber strolled across the hallway upstairs. They were in the middle of the South Lobby, which held the entrance to the school’s auditorium as well as the practice rooms for the school’s bands and orchestras. On the walls were shelves that contained sculptures from past students and large banners that read, _‘Welcome Back Class of 2028!’_ hung from the ceiling.

Amazed, Amber wrote down notes in a blue journal.

Jerry glanced over her shoulder, trying to catch a peek at what she was writing.

But Amber quickly noticed and turned her notebook to the left.

“Don’t look!” she chuckled.

“Sorry,” Jerry rubbed the back of his head. “I just wanted to see what you were writing.”

“Song lyrics,” Amber smiled. “I’m trying to come up with original songs for my YouTube channel. You know how I always do cover songs, right?”

“Yep.”

“Well, I figured I’d change things up by making something original. Coming to your high school reunion might have given me a bit of inspiration.”

“R-really? I guess this school’s good for something after all… may I hear some of the lyrics?”

Amber shook her head.

“C’mon… just a little sneak preview?”

Amber replied with the same gesture. “Nope.”

She continued to write down lyrics in her journal, but she was unaware that her friend had a scheme to see what the song was about. Like a ninja, he silently tip-toed around Amber and stood to her left. He placed down his sunglasses and pretended to look at the banners. His green eyes locked onto Amber’s journal, but he couldn’t make out the words. He leaned closer before Amber saw through his plan.

She playfully punched him in the arm.

“You jerk!” she teased. “I said no peeking!”

“When you say something like no peeking, you know I’m gonna do the opposite of what you say!” Jerry laughed, as he punched Amber’s arm. To which she winced in pain. “Oh, my god! Amber, I’m so sorry! Are you okay!”

Amber rubbed her arm before she rolled up her green sleeve. Stretching her neck, she held up her fists like a boxer and began punching Jerry’s arms playfully.

“Ow!... ow, hey!” Jerry chuckled, trying to shield himself from Amber’s attacks. “Cut that out!”

“What’s the matter, peeper? Can’t take it?” Amber smiled, as she continued punching Jerry’s arms. The dark-skinned man then wrapped his arm around his friend’s head and gently rubbed his fist against her head, giving her a noogie. “Hey! No fair!”

“Ha! One of the perks of being taller!”

“Yeah, by an inch!”

As Jerry and Amber continued laughing and messing around, Nelson Pines glanced over at them. He cringed at their playful demeanor.

“You guys are weird.” He commented.

Jerry released Amber from the noogie. “Says the guy who slept with half the school.”

“I didn’t sleep with half the school… I slept with 5/8s of the school. Anyways, have you two seen Mason? He’s supposed to help me find Chad.”

“I think he went to show Sydney his artwork,” Amber replied.

“But that was an hour ago,” Nelson replied. “It doesn’t take one hour to show someone artwork. If he doesn’t get down here soon, I’ll take away his raise… yeah, I’m not gonna fire him. That would be a little much. I’m not that much of an asshole boss.”

“Perhaps we can help you,” Amber suggested. “I may not like your view on relationships, Nelson, but maybe we can try to change that.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Jerry inquired.

“Come on, Jerry, it’s the least we can do,” Amber wrapped an arm around Jerry’s neck. “Look, Nelson. Being in a relationship doesn’t mean you have sex with whoever you want. It’s about taking care of the person who makes you happy. Just look at my sister and Mason, those two are like peas in a pod… what I’m trying to say is…”

The red robot raised a silver eyebrow, wondering what the girl has to say.

“Well… even though I’ve never been in one before, it’s hard to maintain a relationship with someone. It takes commitment and integrity,” Amber continued. “Maybe the reason you’ve had a lot of issues in the past is because you’re not serious about it. You think that love is nothing about having sex and saying bye. Some other factors that can explain why is 1) you’re just not ready for one and 2) you don’t get along with your significant other very well.”

“You sleep with so many people that you've become a man-whore," Jerry mumbled.

“I heard that!” Nelson made a fist. He suddenly calmed himself once he took in what Amber said. “Perhaps you’re right, Amber… I’m not sure why I want to apologize to Chad and not everyone else I’ve slept with though… I guess Chad wasn’t like other people. Granted, I’ve had some people who treated me like shit, and I’ve treated some people like shit myself, but Chad… I don’t know, but something felt different when I was with him… I… I…”

Jerry and Amber exchanged a nod.

Nelson lowered his golden eyes to the ground and took off his bronze glasses, rubbing his eyes. He couldn't cry, but he wished he did because that's what he wanted to do. He's treated so many people terribly that he’s starting to regret it all.

“I just want to make things right.” He finally said.

“And that’s why we’re gonna help ya,” Amber smiled. “C’mon, Nelson. Let me give you a crash course in apologizing.”

The girl wrapped her arm around the robot’s back and walked down the hallway, past a crowd of people.

Jerry rolled his eyes, folded his eyes, and grumbled. “Way to interrupt my moment, Nelson.”

* * *

“This damn box has to be around here somewhere,” Sydney Connor said, as she continued searching the closet for her boyfriend’s artwork. She didn’t think finding a box full of art would be harder than it was, but nevertheless, she was determined to find it so she could see where Mason’s talent came from. “Where the hell is this thing?”

Climbing on top of a tool, Sydney scrambled through the other boxes, but they were just filled with supplies. Nothing but cases of paint, random objects for still lives, wilted flowers, and other materials. Sydney groaned in annoyance. Why was it taking so long to find Mason’s portfolio? She let out a low sigh before she got down from the stool.

At first, she thought of calling Mason on the phone, but then something caught her the corner of her eye.

“What the?... are you freakin’ kiddin’ me!?” Sydney snarled because there was a box with the words, _“Class of 2026-2028 Portfolios”_ labeled on the side. Facepalming, she leaned down and pulled the box out of the shelf. She opened it up and searched through it, where she discovered a whole list of names.

_Madelyn Lu, Leo Mennes, Harry Ave, Felix Harbor, Lyra Song, Nelson Pines, Chad Brady, Virginia Blanc, Carol Blanc, Ruby Dumpsterfire, Emily Dumpsterfire, Mason Moonstone._

Sydney took out the one with Mason’s name on it and silently cheered to herself. After fifteen minutes of heavy lifting, she was relieved she’d finally found it. But before she opened it up, she saw something on the tip of the zipper; a note.

Tenderly grabbing the note, Sydney read the note to herself.

“Dear Mason… I know you’ve had some struggles in this class and I know being in an art critique is hard to handle. Some people give you useful criticism whereas others just spew useless opinions that don’t mean anything… however, despite the stress you’ve endured and the many times you’ve wanted to give up, I’m proud of you for not letting those art critiques ruin your day. Some students are here to help you and others are just there to be, for lack of a better word, dullards. But what’s important is that you listen to the ones who want to help you and not take their words personally… and you did just that through the rest of the year… Mason Michel Moonstone, I’m glad to have had you in my class. I look forward to seeing what you have in store for the future… from Professor Richard _‘Richie’_ Jackson.”

A small tear dripped down the girl’s cheek when she read that letter.

While she didn’t know much about Mason’s teacher or his class, reading that letter made her feel happy that she was dating someone as talented and confident as Mason.

Opening up the portfolio, she finally took a look at what was inside.

She was greeted to a sculpted picture of Monsoon Gal and Pyro Lad on the first page. The piece was entirely made out of wood, but the realistic details made both heroes stand out. On the next page was a Stop Motion-style diorama of a horror movie scene, where a few puppets were running down a bloody hallway, escaping from a swarm of darkness that chased after them.

Sydney’s spine shook when she saw that one.

But thankfully, her fear went away when she was greeted to one of Mason’s hilarious pieces. It was an image of a Batman action figure standing next to all four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Together, they were throwing pizza and Batarangs at characters from Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Flipping through a few more pages, Sydney saw more sculptures of superheroes as well as movie-style dioramas. But the one piece that drew her attention… was one she didn’t expect to see.

It was a stone sculpture of herself.

“Hmm?” she mumbled, as she looked closely at the page. Astonished at how much the piece resembled her face, Sydney stroked her hair back and smiled. Looking down at the right corner of the page, she saw that the date this was finished was April 22nd, 2025: two weeks after they first met. "Ha… we were just pen pals back then… who would have thought we'd become an item five years from then?”

Stroking the side of the piece, Sydney wiped a small tear from her face and stared at it.

As she thought about the time she and Mason went on their first date, her focus was suddenly shifted to the sound of footsteps entering the room.

A twenty-five-year-old woman stepped into the room and jumped at the sight of Sydney. She wore a white shirt with a black, silk jacket. With a black and red blouse, she wore black leggings with brown dress shoes. On top of her brunette hair was a black hairband and she had topaz eyes.

“Oh, shit,” the woman jumped. “Sorry about that. I didn’t see you there.”

“No, no, I’m sorry,” Sydney apologized, as she stood up on her feet with the portfolio in hand. “I was just looking for something, that’s all.”

“So am I,” the woman replied. “It should be… ah-ha! There it is!”

She pointed at the portfolio box.

“Ah, sorry,” Sydney apologized again.

"Don't be sorry. I should be thanking you. You just saved me an hour of searching these shelves,” the woman replied. She took out her portfolio and began to look through it. But during that, she glanced over at Sydney. “There’s something familiar about you… are you from Seattle by any chance?”

“Yes, I am. Why?”

“Do you work at the Little Timmy Fell Down The Well Bar?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a stand-up comedian there, right?”

“Yes, I am.”

“That’s where I know you from! Hi, I don’t know if you know me but I’m one of the bartenders there. My name’s Virginia Blanc.” She held out her hand.

The comedian shook the woman’s hand. “I think I know you. Hi, I’m Sydney Connor.”

"I know, you're really funny. It's amazing how you turn all those dramatic stories into satirical comedies. Makes it less wishy-washy."

"Ha-ha, thanks. It's what happens when you have asshole parents as I do. They didn’t appreciate anything creative. That’s why they made me work for the Homework Helpers Association. Granted, it wasn’t _that_ bad of a job, but they didn’t let me do anything creative.”

“Jesus Christ, I remember you made a few jokes about your job there. Those were some of the best things I’ve ever heard.”

“Thank you, Virginia,”

“No problem,” Virginia winked, placing her portfolio against her elbow. “It was nice meeting you in person, Sydney. I hate to break up our conversation so soon, but I gotta get going. I’m gonna hang up my artwork in the South Lobby, where everyone will get to see my artistic talent! If you want to see them, you ca-“

The brunette-haired lady was distracted when she saw a glimpse of one of Mason’s pieces in Sydney’s hand. From there, she started to cackle.

“Sydney, did you take this class?” Virginia asked. “Because I’m sure you don’t have a garbage portfolio like that one.”

Sydney’s eyes lit up with shock and she felt her heart pound inside her chest. “Garbage?”

“I’m sorry. I should have said complete, utter crap. That entire portfolio looks like it was made by a third-grader. When you look at that putrid thing compared to mine, you can obviously see which one is better," Virginia held up a few drawings of herself, her imaginary French poodle, and the one where she was chased a bunch of men who wanted her to love them. “See the difference?”

Sydney didn’t respond. She let the fire in her eyes speak for her.

“What’s the matter, Sydney?” Virginia inquired. “Too starstruck by my artistic talent?”

Cracking her fingers, Sydney made a soft snarl, one that she hoped would burn inside this egomaniac's memory. "Listen here… you dirty motherf*cker. If you say one more harsh thing about my boyfriend, I’m about to choke a bitch. Understand?”

“Wait, what?” Virginia raised both eyebrows. “What are you…. Ohhhhhhhh…. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! _What!?_ Mason Moonstone’s your boyfriend? I can’t believe he actually found somebody! All this time, I thought he was dating his Middle-Aged Samurai Lizard Monster action figures! Hahahahahahahahahaha!”

“First of all, you dirty skunk, they’re not whatever you just said. They’re Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And second, Mason has ten times more talent and personality than _you’ll_ ever have! Would a loser like him write a song how much you mean to him, despite never writing a song before!?”

“He wrote a song too?” Virginia continued laughing. “What the hell have I missed for nine years? Hahahahahahahaha! What’s next, you’re gonna tell me he’s a superhero too? Hahahahahahahaha! Or that he’s a professional artist? Hahahahahahahahahaha! Gosh, you’re too funny, Sydney… but I think I’ve wasted enough time. I bid you a good day and I must apologize that you’re dating a peasant. Hahahahahahahahaha!”

Hearing Virginia laugh obnoxiously made Sydney’s anger grow even stronger.

Her fists were shaking, her blood was boiling, and her feet were tapping.

Just before Virginia walked out the door, Sydney grabbed her shoulder and stopped her.

She wanted to punch her for being so rude; however, she thought that would only make the situation worse. With a look of confusion in Virginia's eyes, Sydney took a deep breath and recollected her equanimity.

“Mason’s boyfriend doesn’t suck,” Sydney grunted one more time. “The only reason you think that way is because you’re jealous that he has a better personality than you.”

“Is that so?” Virginia grinned, stroking her chin. “Tell ya what, Sydney. How about we have an art contest in the South Lobby? You display horse shit while I display my work. Whoever attracts the most attention, which will be me, will win. And the loser, which is you, has to admit they were wrong.”

Sydney took a moment to think about this before she finally accepted. “Deal.”

Both girls settled their agreement with a handshake.

“Gotta go," Virginia finally approached the door. "I better cleanse people with my talent before they look at whatever lies in _that_ portfolio. Hahahahahahahahaha!”

She finally exited the room.

Sydney shook her head and searched the room for more of Mason’s pieces. “I feel sorry for any guy who f*cks you.” She mumbled to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

**“The Sensational Night Shadow in… The Jacked Up Headless Reunion”**

**Chapter 4**

Created by The Spectacular SpiderDom

* * *

With an alliance between Night Shadow and the Void League formed, the new team decided to start their investigation in the murder victim’s office. When they arrived, they realized that the place was a lot cleaner than they thought.

They expected a swarm of dust bunnies, cobwebs, and other things that could indicate a murder took place, but nope, nothing was here aside from a few wooden desks, silver/greenish-colored cabinets, and brown shelves that held many nonfiction books. The Void League searched the principal’s desk whereas Night Shadow and Dunnere placed the frozen head on the table and searched the shelves and cabinets.

Mojo walked past Technolocity, who was scanning the floor for any traces of blood or anything else.

In the process, he started to get excited about being involved in a mystery… some may say a little too excited.

“This is so cool,” Technolocity smiled. “I mean, it’s totally exciting! Well, not for Principal Appleseed Johnny because he’s the one who got killed, but it’s exciting for us! I feel like I’m in some sort of noir style horror movie. All we need is a Tolkien white guy to go, _‘Let’s go see what that noise was.’_ Speaking of which, we should give this mystery a name, but what to call it though?... Hmm… How about, _The Case of the Frozen Head_?... Nah, that sounds cliché. Maybe, _Mystery of the Decapitated Frozen Head_? Nah, that sounds too long.”

“What about _The Jacked Up Headless Reunion_?” Night Shadow suggested.

“Hmm… doesn’t sound too bad,” Technolocity replied.

Mojo raised an eyebrow. “Wait, did you just namedrop the episode-“

“Shh!” Technolocity shushed. “We don’t wanna infest this episode with fourth wall jokes, so shut up!”

The pink gorilla rolled her eyes and shook her head, as she continued searching for clues.

Closing the drawer he was looking through; Night Shadow turned his attention to the purple speedster to his right. “Yo, Tender. Find anything?”

“Nope-I-haven’t-found-jack-shit!” the speedy villain replied.

“What about you, Raven?”

The masked crow held up an item he found in the cabinet he searched through. “Aside from a collection of Adam Starshine albums, I’ve discovered nothing that could contribute to our investigation.”

Night Shadow shook his head. Dunnere did the same thing. “You having better luck, Melody?”

The musical assassin didn’t respond.

“Hello?” Night Shadow asked again. “Melody, did you find anything?”

Once again, she didn’t respond.

“Bonjour? Earth to Melody?”

Turning her head up, the white-masked woman turned her blue eyes over to her bird-like partner. "Hey, Raven. Did you hear something?"

“Are we seriously gonna make this childish joke, Melody?” Raven inquired.

“What’s your deal, Melody?” Night Shadow asked. “I’m just asking if you found anything.”

“My _deal_ is that I have a problem working with you. This is nothing but a waste of time! The Void League and I are more than capable of handling this case on our own!”

“So am I!” Night Shadow retorted. “But I’m nice enough to let you guys stick around. The least you could do is be grateful I haven’t beaten the shit out of you guys yet.”

“When this is over, Night Shadow. You and I will get back to business, where I will please my master by stealing Dunnere away from you!”

“God, you’re so impulsive.”

“I heard that, you son of a-“

“Children, please!” Technolocity pointed. “I will not tolerate this… Look, we’re working together to solve this mystery, the least you could do is cooperate, Melody.”

“Working together with Night Shadow’s easy for you to say!” Melody snarled at her master. “You two are practically friends!”

“That’s not true… sort of.”

“You’re friends on Facebook,” Raven commented.

“That was Techy’s idea, not mine,” Night Shadow added.

“Can we back on topic here, please?” Technolocity said. “Look, searching for clues all together isn’t going to help us. There are a lot of spots in the school we can scan through and going through them one at a time is counterproductive. In other words, let’s split up. Melody, you, Raven, Tender Soul, and Night Shadow will search the classrooms and offices in the North Lobby. Mojo and I will search the South Lobby, deal?”

Raven and Tender Soul nodded, but Melody shook her head.

“I can’t follow this order, Master,” Melody answered. “Night Shadow is-“

Technolocity slammed his fist against the table. “I’m not going to repeat myself again, Melody! You will do as I say or else…”

The musical villain gasped before she finally nodded, bowing her head.

“Get going, donkeys,” Technolocity shooed his team away. Night Shadow felt pity for the Void League as he watched them exit the principal’s office. Exchanging a sorrowful glance with Dunnere, they both followed the team outside with the frozen head in the former’s hand.

Closing the door, Night Shadow heard Melody say, “Night Shadow… may I talk to the Void League alone, please?”

“Why?” the superhero questioned.

“Please…”

“…all right.”

Night Shadow gave the team a look of grief before he walked down the hallway, allowing the trio to have a conversation amongst themselves. He did turn around and look at them one more time before he hid by the right corner of the wall.

It was at that moment where Melody took off her white mask, revealing the face of an American, white-skinned girl with blue eyes. She straightened out her blonde hair and let out a low sigh.

Her name was Madelyn Lu.

“Madelyn,” Raven said. Taking off his black crow mask, he revealed himself as Leo Mennes. “What troubles you? You wouldn’t talk back to Technolocity unless if you were distressed or if you didn’t agree with his plans.”

“Wait,” Tender Soul pointed. “We’re-taking-off-our-costumes-now? Oh-thank-goodness.”

With the tap of his finger against a golden wristwatch, Tender Soul’s purple costume deflated inside the watch, revealing a dark-skinned man with a purple flat cap that had a red vertical stripe towards the top and a red bill. He wore a purple jacket that had a black collar and dark gray pants. Over his ears were blue-black headphones. That way, his ears didn’t hurt every time he’d run at super speeds. Speaking of which, he took them off and placed them around his neck.

His name was Harry Ave.

“Phew!” Harry wiped his sweaty forehead. “Talking as fast as you run really stings your vocal cords.”

Madelyn softly chuckled at her friend’s joke.

“What’s going on, Madelyn?” Leo approached his partner, as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Gazing into the brown eyes of her partner, she saw that his face was covered in dirt, but his brown eyes stuck out like a sore thumb. His red hair was messy, and his smile made the woman feel better.

“I didn’t mean to disrespect anyone back there… especially Mason,” she answered softly. “I like Mason… we were all friends once before he found out we were doing… this… but the reason why we’re doing this is for Felix. He’s been on that secret mission Technolocity sent him on for nine years and he hasn’t bothered to contact us… Technolocity always promised us that if we brought him the elemental demons of Night Shadow, Monsoon Gal, Pyro Lad, Bloodhound, Silver Lightning, Frosty Beetle, and Turbine… then, he’d let us see Felix…”

The woman fell silent for a quick moment.

“I guess… I just-“

“You don’t need to say anything else, Maddie,” Harry smiled, as he pulled her into a hug. “Leo and I understand perfectly. I really want Felix to come home… I wanna tell him about the time Night Shadow destroyed a self-checkout machine. Have you guys seen the video? Oh, my god! It’s hilarious!”

Both Leo and Madelyn chuckled.

“I know how much you miss Felix, I miss him too,” Leo nodded with a smile. “Whatever mission he’s one, I’m sure he’ll come back soon. He’s probably thinking about us right now… but that’s no excuse to forget that Mason was our friend… he may not like us now because of the choices we’ve made in the past, but we have to remember that he’s still our friend… even if he doesn’t feel the same about us… do you understand what I’m saying, Madelyn?”

Without hesitation, the blonde-haired girl made a soft smile.

She wrapped her arms around her partner’s body and pulled him into a hug. Leo did the same thing and soon, Harry joined in. The three adults gave each other one more smile before they split from their group hug.

“It’s all right, Night Shadow,” Madelyn called. “You can come back now.”

There was no response from Night Shadow.

“Yo, Night Shadz,” Harry called. “You listening to loud music or something? We said you can come back!”

Nothing but silence was heard in the hallway.

“Night Shadow?” Leo squinted his eyes, looking for the hero. But once again, there was no reply.

This prompted Leo to put on his mask; same thing with Melody.

Harry tapped his watch twice and transformed back into Tender Soul.

The three villains stood still for a few seconds before they slowly tip-toed forward; they were afraid something happened to Night Shadow. If that did happen, not only would they lose their former friend, but they knew Technolocity would be angry about it. With a quick glance at one another, they continued stepping towards the corner of the wall…

Where they heard a noise.

“Hey!” They heard Night Shadow shout. “Give that back!”

**_POW!_ **

“ _Argh!_ ” Night Shadow grunted, as he flung back towards the Void League and landed, back first, against the wall. Falling on his stomach, the superhero growled like an angry beast before he reached for his twin Sai. Raven and Melody helped him on his feet. “That guy’s got the head!”

“Who?” Melody asked.

Suddenly, a mysterious figure, holding the principal’s frozen head in his hand. He jumped on the side of the wall and kicked Tender Soul across the jaw. The speedster rolled across the ground and landed near Night Shadow's feet.

The figure wore silver and orange goggles along with a green and white hoodie for attire. His black mask was cloaked underneath the hood, but his bright orange eyes burned deep into the Void League’s souls.

“Who-the-hell’s-this-guy?” Tender Soul exclaimed.

“Get him!” Melody shouted, as she blew a harmonic tune into her flute which activated the red beam. Swinging her sword around, she and Raven charged towards the man like raging bulls.

Swatting their weapons at the man, they realized that the vigilante was faster then they anticipated; he evaded every attack thrown at him and grabbed the end of Melody’s sword. Smacking her with his elbow, he swung her around and chucked her into Raven’s chest.

With his super speed, Tender Soul rushed over and fired an uppercut across the man’s chin.

Night Shadow twirled his Sai around and punched the man twice before delivering a volley kick. To which Tender Soul punched him ten times. The man was flung back against the wall, nearly dropping the head on the floor. Just as Night Shadow and Tender Soul moved in closer, the man reached into his pocket and whipped out small black spheres. He chucked them onto the ground and all of them started blinking red lights.

**_KABLAM!_ **

All of them exploded, covering both Night Shadow and Tender Soul’s face with puffs of smoke.

Coughing, Night Shadow wiped away the smoke while Dunnere searched for the vigilante. Tender Soul gasped for fresh air, as Dunnere located the vigilante from behind and punched him across the jaw with a black tentacle that shot out from Night Shadow’s back.

The smoke eventually disappeared, and the vigilante was on the floor and Appleseed’s head was next to him.

Tender Soul quickly grabbed the head, as the man got up on his feet. He reached for his back and pulled out a small stick from his holster.

“ _Pfft_ … a stick? What’s that gonna do?” Night Shadow quipped. “You wanna play fetch or something?”

The stick suddenly grew an inch taller on both sides, where is suddenly transformed into a scythe.

Night Shadow’s eyes widened. “Oh… that thing’s cool!”

Instead of slicing the heroes as any normal villain would, the vigilante twirled his ax around before he suddenly sliced a power generator on the side of the wall. With sparks of electricity running up and down the box, all of the lights started to flicker until they eventually shut off.

The rest of the school became pitch black.

And it was at that moment where Tender Soul was kicked in the stomach and he felt the frozen head being taken from his hands. Falling against the floor, Night Shadow reached for his goggles and pressed a button on the side. His red eyes suddenly glowed, giving him the ability to see in the dark.

“Give me your hand,” Night Shadow leaned down towards Tender Soul’s level, where the speedster struggled to grab his hand. “Over to your left, Tender.”

The speedy villain grabbed the hero’s hand and was pulled on his feet.

“I-forget-you-have-night-vision,” Tender Soul commented. “That’s-pretty-rad!”

Night Shadow chuckled at that remark. “Melody, Tender… you guys okay?”

Both supervillains got up and nodded. Melody played a tune on her flute, which created a small white ball at the end of her instrument. Spinning it around, she chucked the ball into the air and created a bright light above herself and her teammates.

“Cool!” Tender Soul smiled. He whipped out a bag of popcorn and held it up to the light. It didn’t take long for the bag to pop, as he began eating his snack.

“Where did he go?” Raven inquired.

“He just disappeared,” Night Shadow said. “And it gets worse, he stole the head!”

“Son of a bitch!” Melody snarled. “You think that guy was the student who told the janitors to lock the head in the basement?”

“It’s possible,” Night Shadow replied. To which Dunnere nodded. “Maybe he was the killer.”

“Maybe,” Melody stroked her chin. “Guess we’re gonna have to split up again. Tender, you and Raven check the left side of the school and upstairs. Night Shadow, you’re with me. We’ll search the left side and downstairs. Contact one another if you’ve found the head.”

Everyone nodded.

“Hang-on-tight-Birdy,” Tender Soul quipped, as he wrapped his arm around Raven’s shoulder and took off down the hallway, leaving a gust of wind to blow against Night Shadow and Melody.

Speaking of which, the white-costumed woman was about to run down the hall, when Night Shadow suddenly stopped her. “Hey, Madelyn…”

The girl stopped and turned around.

“Just like old times, eh?” Night Shadow rubbed his head.

Melody couldn’t help but smile before she continued to run down the hall with Night Shadow following close behind.

* * *

“What the hell was that!?” Nelson Pines shouted in fear.

The whole school was covered in darkness because of the fight that occurred near the principal’s office. Jerry and Amber took out their phones and shined their flashlights, accidentally blinding some of the former students in the process.

“Hey! Watch where you point those things!” someone shouted.

“Sorry!” Jerry replied before he turned to Amber. “You okay?”

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Amber whispered. “Did this normally happen in your school?”

“Only during the Christmas parties… Let’s hope our black and blue friend doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

Soon enough, the other students took out their phones and shined the light. Robots, of course, used the flashlights programmed in their eyeballs to maneuver around the lobby. Nelson did the same thing.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but there should be a backup generator somewhere,” Nelson said. He turned and shouted to the other students. “Does anyone know if the backup power generator is around here!?”

All of the former students exchanged murmurs and whispers. From the sounds of their tones, they sounded like they didn’t know where the generator’s whereabouts. That was until someone spoke up. A voice that Nelson knew all too well.

“I know where it is!”

Everyone shined their lights on a muscular man with orange skin, a black shirt, red shorts, and white sports tape around his frog-like fingers. He had lizard-esc eyes, a cybernetic right arm, and he sat in a wheelchair. Nelson gasped as soon as he saw the man, as he reached over his metal lips and cupped his hands over them.

“Chad?” He asked.

“Didn’t expect to see you again, Nelson the Pervert,” Chad replied, as he strolled towards the robot. “What’s up, Jerry?”

"Chad, good to see you again. I almost didn't recognize you," Jerry shook the man's frog hand. "You look good, man… oh, shit. Where are my manners? Amber, this is Chad Brady. Him and I were on the football team together. Chad, this is Amber Connor: a close friend of mine."

“Nice to meet you guys,” Chad replied. “You look good, Jerry. Knowing how much you hated this place, I never expected you to come ba-“

**_FLAP! SNAP!_ **

Chad stuck out a frog’s tongue and ate a fly that swarmed around Nelson’s head. Jerry and Amber jumped when they saw that.

Chewing on the insect for five seconds, Chad swallowed it before he cleared his throat. “Sorry about that. Force of habit. Anyways, you guys know what happened to the lights?”

“Gee, I wish I knew,” Jerry rolled his eyes, thinking about what kind of shenanigans Mason got himself into right now.

“Do you know where the generator is?” Amber inquired.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Chad nodded. “Believe me, I’ve fixed that thing so many times, I could literally fix it with my eyes closed. Follow me, my friends… and Nelson.”

As Jerry and Chad strolled down the halls, Amber whispered to Nelson.

“That’s Chad?”

“Yeah. Trust me, he didn’t look like that nine years ago… I wonder what happened.”

“That’s perfect.”

“What’s perfect? The fact he looks like Kermit the Frog’s distant cousin?”

“No! That could be a great conversation starter. Why don’t you ask him how he’s been and how he got in a wheelchair. Once you get to know him for a little bit, you can apologize to him for the breakup… sound like a plan?”

“Hmm, I don’t think that’s gonna work. I need a different plan… ah-ha! I got it! I’ll use his medical conditions as a conversation starter. I can ask him how he’s been for the past nine years and then subtly introduce the apology! Ha! My own genius scares me sometimes.”

“…you’re such a douche.”

Amber and Nelson began to follow Jerry and Chad before they ran into Sydney, who was carrying Mason’s portfolio and a foldable table in her arms.

“Sydney,” Amber greeted. “Thank goodness. Where were you?”

“Tell Mason he’s not getting his raise,” Nelson grunted. To which, Amber smacked him in the arm.

“Sorry, I was in Mason’s old art room looking at his work,” Sydney replied. “Some bitch named Virginia insulted his pieces, so I decided to challenge her to an art contest. It’s Mason’s work vs her work. Whoever has the most views wins.”

Amber rubbed her head. “That seems a little extreme, don’t you think?”

“What? I’m not gonna let her talk shit about my boyfriend like that. She’s going down!”

Amber and Nelson exchanged a look of confusion before they shrugged their shoulders.

“Good luck, sis,” Amber patted her sister on the shoulder before she and Nelson caught up to Jerry and Chad.

From that moment, Sydney looked around and saw that everyone was wondering about the lobby, thinking about what to do since the power was out. She took a deep breath and began to talk in her thoughts. _With the power outage, I won’t be able to showcase Mason’s artwork… Hmm… all right, guess it’s time to get creative._

Sydney placed down her supplies and started setting up her table.

A few minutes went by and the students were starting to get concerned.

“What the hell are we supposed to do now that the power’s out?” one male inquired.

As a response, he heard a whistle come from across.

Turning around, the students gasped at something they hope would lift their spirits.

Sydney Connor spent the last few minutes setting up Mason’s artwork on a white table, but to make it more appealing and easier to see, she found a bunch of old Christmas lights and lined them up around the table and around the pieces. She gave some of the funnier pieces brighter lighting whereas the grittier pieces got less lighting. Next to Sydney was a brown jewelry box that read, _“Comments are appreciated.”_

“Don’t worry, mi amigos,” Sydney smiled. “I’m sure this power outage will be over soon, but in the meantime, why not come check out some of my boyfriend’s artwork.”

The students seemed disinterested.

This prompted Sydney to take out a bowl of candy.

The students cheered and came to see what was displayed.

Everyone except Virginia Blanc admired Mason’s artwork and took a piece of candy. The sound of pencils writing across paper drove the bratty woman crazy, as she knew that they were saying nice things about Mason’s work.

“She may have those idiots fooled, but I have a trick of my own!” Virginia cackled like a supervillain, as she rushed down the hallway to retrieve some supplies.

As Sydney watched more comment cards go inside the box, she suddenly heard a loud whistle come from across.

She and the students turned around. The students gasped and she just snarled.

Virginia did the exact same thing Sydney did by displaying her artwork with hot pink Christmas lights all around. But the only difference was that there was a massive portrait of a French poodle behind the desk. The woman jumped on top of her table and spoke into a megaphone.

“Don’t admire the pieces of shit displayed over there, folks! Come check out some work made by a _real_ artist! Me, Virginia Blanc! Write down your comments on this pink post-it notes and help me prove to her that her boyfriend’s artwork sucks! Who’s with me!?”

None of the students seemed interested.

"I'll give you all some candy!"

The students didn’t make a peep.

“You can have a ride in my dad’s limo!”

Sydney and the students had the same neutral expression.

Virginia placed down her megaphone and huffed; her plan wasn’t working. But it didn’t take her long to come up with an alternative. “I’ll make out with you.”

“ ** _YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!_** ” Half the students near Sydney’s table shouted, as they ran over to Virginia and took a look at her work, writing down comment cards in the process.

This infuriated Sydney. She folded her arms and said, “Of course you realize, this means war.”

* * *

Night Shadow and Melody were patrolling part of the downstairs basement, hoping that would find a sign of Appleseed Johnny's head as well as the man who took it. Raven and Tender Soul contacted them a while back; however, they've reported they found nothing in the North Lobby. Melody told them to check upstairs. To which, they obeyed and told them they'd report back if they found anything. Even though she didn't care much for the principal, Melody still wanted to know who killed him. He may have been an absolute moron in her eye, but even she thought he didn't deserve to go out like that.

As with Night Shadow, he felt the same as Melody, but he also thought that this mystery was turning interminable.

All he wanted to do was show Sydney his artwork and leave. That way, he'd never have to think about high school ever again. But as he kept walking with his temporary ally, he realized that coming back here wasn't as bad as he thought. Granted, he was involved in a murder mystery at the moment; however, he was happy to know what Sydney was interested in learning more about him and that he got a chance to bond with some old friends: The Void League.

Glancing over at Melody, he started to chuckle.

The musical villain looked over. “What’s so funny?”

Dunnere appeared on his master’s shoulder, wanting to know the same thing.

“Madelyn… remember when we were in math class with Leo, Felix, and Harry?” Night Shadow asked. “We had Mrs. O’Lunney as our math teacher and instead of teaching us actual math, she spoke about how her two sons were pulled over for smoking weed and how her daughter was a prostitute?”

“And then she told us the stories about how her dog found a dead rat in the microwave?” Melody snickered. “Yeah, I remember that class.”

“Remember that bullshit project she made us do? It was the one where we had to make a video project about the Penrose triangle’s origin story.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Melody’s snicker turned into a cackle. “Don’t remind me. We did a ten-minute Claymation movie that took us two weeks to do. _Two. Weeks!_ Thank god you and Harry were the ones taking the pictures, I would’ve lost my god damn mind moving all those puppets one inch at a time.”

“And then you, Felix, and Leo had to do the voiceover. Feliz was the voice of Oscar Reutersvard, you voiced Lionel Penrose and Leo was Lionel’s son, Roger. That was the first time I’ve heard Felix talk with a Swedish accent and my god, was it glorious!”

Melody’s cackle turned into laughter. “I remember him doing that!”

“That man is an absolute unit when it comes to Swedish accents! His voice was… how people in Sweden would say… _vacker!_ ”

“Vacker?”

“Yeah! It means beautiful in Swedish.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Yes, it does. It fits into any context too. Listen… My girlfriend, Sydney, is a vacker lady.”

“Jesus Christ. That sounds so bad!”

“My action figure collection is very vacker!”

“Please, stop!” Melody continued laughing.

“What’s wrong, Melody? Are my vacker jokes not vacker enough for you?”

Melody didn’t say a word this time. Instead, she let her laughter speak for her. It only took two seconds for Night Shadow and Dunnere to join in. Laughter echoed through the basement before it suddenly stopped. Taking deep breaths, Night Shadow and Melody continued walking.

“That… was a good memory,” the black and blue hero commented.

“Yeah…” Melody sniffed. “Yeah, it was.”

“…I miss the people we were then.”

The woman gazed into the man’s eyes when he said that. A soft gasp escaped from her lips. Her green eyes turned to the floor, as she fixed her hair and wrapped her fingers together. With a low sigh, she looked away from Night Shadow and mumbled these words.

“Me too… that was back before you became Night Shadow… before… before… before Leo, Harry and I… betrayed you.”

Night Shadow and Dunnere fell silent.

The demon tapped the villain on the shoulder and signed. _“Why do you stay with Technolocity when you know his beliefs are wrong? You know what he wants to do to me and my friends, yes?”_

“Indeed I do, Dunnere,” Melody replied. “I may not agree with his methods, but there are two reasons why the Void League and I stick around with him… One, he’s the only one who accepted us because we had superpowers… and… and… Mason… I have to tell you about-"

**_SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!_ **

**_CRACK!_ **

The sound of ice shattering interrupted the conversation.

Night Shadow and Melody looked up and saw the shadow of the man that attacked him breaking something with his scythe ax.

The object was the frozen head of Appleseed Johnny.

“Mon Dieu!” Both costumed heroes shouted, as they unleashed their weapons and ran down the hallway. They looked up at the shadow and saw him leap away with something in his hands. When they turned around the corner, they realized that they were too late.

The canister that created the ice cube was frozen and fragments of ice scattered the floor.

But the head of the principal wasn’t there, meaning that the shadowy figure took him… but why would he do that?

Night Shadow and Melody were determined to find that out.

“I’ll stop him!” Night Shadow spun his Sai around and used his advanced speed to chase the man down.

Melody cupped her hands together and gasped at the broken ice. She reached for her phone and called her teammates. “Tender Soul and Raven, get your asses down here _now!_ We found the guy, but he broke the frozen canister! He’s getting away with the head!”

 _“We’ll-be-there-in-less-than-a-second-Melody!_ ” Tender Soul replied. A whoosh was the last thing Melody heard before she hung up the phone, as she followed Night Shadow down the hallway.

Together, they watched the man kick open the door to the upstairs level and slam it shut. But thanks to Night Shadow’s Darkness Manipulation, he formed a black fist around his hand and punched the door down with brute force. He and Melody continued their pursuit, but it was easier said than done.

In other words, the green-hooded vigilante tossed down an armada of smoke bombs. They exploded, as they made physical contact with the stairs.

But Melody was already prepared for this, as she played a smooth harmony into her flute and shot a red energy ball at the smoke, blowing it away from her path. Night Shadow then jumped on the railing and shot a dark whip from his wrist, almost like a spider shooting a web, as he swung upward and landed near the vigilante. Twirling his Sai around, he took charge.

“Bubba Shikka!” he shouted his battle cry, but the vigilante kicked him the back and sent him tumbling down a flight of stairs. “…ow.”

With Melody helping him on his feet, Night Shadow jumped on the railing again and offered his hand to Melody.

“Give me your hand, I’ll boost us up!”

Melody was hesitant to grab his hand at first.

“Trust me, Madelyn.”

Hearing her name, the girl grabbed the superhero’s hand, as he wrapped his arm around her body.

“Hang on!” he shouted, as he swung himself and her up the stairs. With his speed, they were able to catch up to the vigilante before he kicked another door down. Night Shadow and Melody landed on the platform and followed the man into another hallway.

“Give us back that head!” Night Shadow shouted. “Wow, never thought I’d say that before!”

Despite now being able to see very well, the man kept going with no intentions to stop. He then made a sharp left turn and jumped onto the windows, running across the glass as if he was a ninja.

Night Shadow tried to copy him, but all he did was crash through the window. "They make that so easy in movies!” He shouted, as he began falling to his doom.

But before he could use another dark whip to help him up, he felt something catch him from behind.

Looking down, he noticed that a bright white platform safely carried him back up to the window where Melody stood, playing her flute. Night Shadow jumped off the platform, which caused Melody to stop playing her instrument.

“Thanks,” Night Shadow smiled.

“You owe me one,” Melody teased.

Both heroes halted their playful banter, as they continued running down the hallway.

* * *

While a fight ensued, Technolocity was having a fight of his own; trying to get the computer to work for him.

“Come on, you piece of crap!” the technological villain snarled, as he gently smacked the left side of the computer, which was out of business because of the power outage. “Seriously? This is like waiting for my cable box to work!”

“You still have cable?” Mojo asked. “You do realize they overprice that on your bill, right?”

“Well, it’s my fault for not having Netflix and Hulu’s merger, Huflix. I’m not spending sixty dollars on a streaming service when I can just watch Cable TV. But at least I have Disney’s third streaming service, Disney+++.”

“That’s also a scam.”

“Shut up, Mojo… hey, did you find anything yet?”

“Just the same ol’ Adam Starshine albums from before, but nothing… hey, hold on a second.”

"What is it? Did you find anything?"

“Yeah, look at this.”

Getting from his chair, the supervillain strolled over to a statue of a medieval knight on the corner of the wall. It was a silver statue with a gold and blue shield and a sword in his right hand. But there was something odd about the statue; the stomach area was covered in a dry red substance.

Technolocity scanned it and identified it. “That’s dry blood… how did we not notice that before?”

“That’s not the only one,” Mojo commented, as she took a step back. “Look up.”

Doing as told, the supervillain discovered that there was a display of two medieval axes forming an X around a blue and yellow shield on a part of the wall that was shaped like an arch. Technolocity grabbed the ax on the right and noticed the same dry blood as the knight. He scanned it to see if he can track it down to other parts of the office.

There were dry blood splatters underneath a carpet on the floor and on parts of the wall.

“I can’t believe we didn’t notice this,” Technolocity said. “I mean, I guess if we did see it, the writer wouldn’t have a chance to write some character development, but god damn! How did we not notice this!?”

Technolocity's attention drew to a security camera hidden in the right corner of the wall. He flew upward and ripped it off its holster. Upon landing on the ground, he formed a plug with his robotic finger and stuck it inside the camera. With his free hand, he created a holographic projection of every video feed the camera's recorded throughout the years. Mojo stood next to her boss, amazed at how much evidence was found in this camera.

The last video they found on there was the latest one. It was recorded on August 5th, 2028.

Technolocity and Mojo sat back and watched the video when suddenly, they gasped in disgust.

****


	5. Chapter 5

**“The Sensational Night Shadow in… The Jacked Up Headless Reunion”**

**Chapter 5**

Created by The Spectacular SpiderDom

* * *

“Yo, Chad. Where’s that blasted generator?” Jerry inquired. He and his friends made their way downstairs: the location of the backup generator. They walked down the stairs and continued walking along.

“We’re almost there, Jerry,” Chad replied. “Patience is a virtue, my friend. We’ll be there soon.”

Amber nudged Nelson’s arm, signaling him to apologize to Chad at this moment. The red robot glanced over at his former boyfriend before back at the girl. Rubbing the back of his head, Nelson shrugged his shoulders as if to ask, _“How do I apologize to him?”_

Rolling her eyes, Amber whispered, “Just talk to him.”

The robot cracked his black fingers and approached Chad’s wheelchair.

“So… Chad,”

“What do you want, Nelson?”

“I gotta ask… Um… I was wondering… how did um… well… sorry, I’m having trouble finding the words… I want to ask you about… well-“

“Why I look so different?” The orange-skinned man answered for his former boyfriend. “Three years ago, I was playing professional football when a drunken driver driving a vehicle full of chemicals came into the field. It ran me over and injured me severely… lucky for me, I was immediately transferred to the nearest hospital, where they performed Animal Surgery on me.”

“Animal Surgery?” Nelson rubbed his head. “What’s that?”

"That's where doctors would repair your organs using replicated DNA from animals. Since most of the body was burned from those chemicals, they had to use DNA samples from different animals in order to heal me.”

“Never heard of this form of surgery before. It almost sounds like they turn you into a furry.”

“Ha! That’s pretty much what it is.”

The ex-boyfriends exchanged a laugh as they continued walking down the hallway. Jerry stood next to Amber, giving her a look as if to say, _“Huh, this may actually work.”_

“So, you play professional football now?” Nelson inquired. “That’s interesting. You were always into baseball when we dated.”

“Yeah, I always thought baseball was cool, but once my brother: Eric, got me into football, I decided that one was the better sport. Originally, basketball was one of my interests, but after I saw Space Jam, I decided it wasn’t the one for me.”

“Does that movie still have a cult following? It’s an obvious cash grab based off commercials starring Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan. They basically turned a commercial into a movie. Therefore, turning the movie into a commercial. Therefore, producing commercials for commercials!”

Chad broke into laughter when he heard that joke. Jerry and Amber gave each other the same smirk. They couldn’t believe that Nelson’s apology might work. The red robot joined in on the fun, as he slapped his knee and laughed along.

Eventually, they stopped their laughter.

Nelson figured that this would be a good time to apologize to him. “Chad, listen… there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you, but I’ve never had the courage to do it until today… I know I slept with some people.”

“Some?”

“Okay, a _lot_ of people and I know I left them hanging because they either treated me like shit or vice versa. But when you and I dated each other, there was something different between us. You were a very cool, go with the flow, kind of guy whereas I was an artist who didn’t care much about school. We went on multiple dates, saw lots of movies, you were basically the best person who entered my life.”

Chad looked up at the robot’s face, wanting to hear the rest of his speech.

“What I’m trying to say is…” Nelson continued. “I’m so-“

“Here’s the generator,” Chad cut him off, as he strolled over to a backup generator that sat on the wall. Nelson frowned that he didn’t finish his apology. To which, Amber patted him on the shoulder.

Jerry shined his light on the generator, which was a red and gold machine that was covered in nothing but dust and cobwebs.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” he snarled. “This thing is disgusting!”

“No worries,” Chad said. “All we need is a giant dust rag… does anyone here have one of those by any chance?”

The room was silent.

“Guess not,” Chad shook his head.

“Stand back, guys,” Nelson said. “I bet I can get this contraption working.”

Kneeling down on his knees, Nelson peeled open the generator’s trap doors, revealing an engine swarmed with dust bunnies. Shooing the bunnies away, Nelson began tinkering with the machine’s parts. Chad strolled over and looked over the robot’s shoulder, amazed that he was able to do what he was doing.

“Didn’t think you were an engineering expert, Nelson.”

“I took a few courses in engineering when I was in college. My partner, Mason, and I would sometimes make a few art pieces from metal. Mason’s not as good at engineering as I am, but he still does a good job.”

“You’re talking about Mason Moonstone?”

“Yep. He’s been my partner for years. We both work for the Artists Association of Seattle, where we take in professional commissions for money. We’ve designed stuff for small companies and a few pieces for different people. We’re not a huge business, but we get paid a good amount. My father is the CEO of the company.

“Wow. I knew you liked art, but most of the drawings you did were sexual. I didn’t think you’d take art seriously.”

“Guess there’s a lot we need to catch up on, huh?” Nelson winked. Chad smiled and chuckled. “All right. I think this thing is finished. Chad, would you mind pulling that lever on the side, please?”

The animalized human strolled his wheelchair over to the lever and yanked it downward. Streaks of electricity traveled around the generator, as the lights in the room and around the school began to blink.

Jerry and Amber turned off their flashlights and high-fived one another.

“I don’t know why you just high-fived each other,” Nelson joked. “You two didn’t do shit.”

* * *

**_FLASH!_ **

The lights came on in the South Lobby, but nobody was paying attention to that.

“Who wants ice cream!?” Sydney Connor shouted into a megaphone, as the kids near her rival’s table came rushing back towards Mason’s artwork. The art competition was still going on and it was getting fierce, as Virginia snarled at the girl and folded her arms.

Upon seeing Sydney give her the middle finger, the brunette-haired girl growled like a hungry lion and whipped out a barbeque from nowhere. Tossing a couple of frozen patties onto it, she tied an apron that said, _“Kiss the Cook”_ around her body. She then began to cook the burgers.

“I know some of you love BBQ, so come support my work and I’ll give you a tasty burger!”

All of the students, except the vegetarians and vegans, charged towards Virginia’s desk like raging bulls. They were served freshly cooked hamburgers, as they filled out more comment cards.

Cracking her fingers, Sydney reached below the table and whipped out something she know will get the students’ attention: a T-shirt cannon.

“Everyone loves free shirts, right?” Sydney smirked, as she shot an armada of white T-shirts into the air. The students gasped as if fireworks lit up on the Fourth of July, as they all pushed each other aside to win a T-shirt. “No need to fight, folks. There’s plenty to go around!”

“Why that little…” Virginia snarled. She rubbed her hands together and stroked her chin, trying to come up with a new scheme. Thanks to her intelligence, she snapped her fingers and ducked underneath her table. It only took three seconds for her to come out dressed as Night Shadow. “Look, guys! It’s me, The Sensational Night Shadow! Come support Virginia’s work and I’ll give you all an autograph! Maybe a little kiss for the ladies!”

“That’s not even how Night Shadow sounds!” Sydney barked.

But the students didn’t care. Half of them were dumb enough to believe that _was_ Night Shadow, so they rushed over to Virginia’s table and took selfies with the pseudo-superhero.

Sydney was about to attempt another plan, when suddenly…

**_CRACK!_ **

The window on the ceiling shattered into pieces. Sydney gasped and stood back against the statue of herself. The students did the same thing and backed away from the middle of the room.

As glass sprinkled the floor, Monsoon Gal and Pyro Lad landed safely with their elemental powers. They twirled their weapons around and struck a battle pose, hoping Night Shadow would come over to greet them.

The students gushed and exchanged murmurs; they were in awe that two famous superheroes were standing right in front of them.

“Monsoon Gal, Pyro Lad?” Sydney inquired.

“Sydney?” The water bender raised an eyebrow. “Where’s Night Shadow?”

Virginia took off the Night Shadow suit and revealed her normal clothes. “Finally! This is just what I needed! Whoever writes more positive comments about me gets to meet and greet Monsoon Gal and Pyro Lad.”

“I’m never doing those again.” Pyro Lad snarled.

“Wait, Night Shadow called you?” Sydney asked.

“Yeah,” the Firestarter replied. “He said something about finding a frozen head.”

Sydney wanted to ask more; however, she was cut off when she heard her boyfriend shout from down the hall.

“Hold it right there, thief!”

The real Night Shadow and Melody chased after the green-hooded man, who still had the head of Appleseed Johnny in his hands. The students, Sydney, and Virginia shared the same shocked reaction when they saw the head and the vigilante. Some of the students stood back and screamed.

“MG, Pyro! Stop him!” Night Shadow called out.

Opening the tiny capsule on her belt, Monsoon Gal summoned a streak of water and formed it into a whip. She lashed out at the vigilante, but she missed him by a split second. Pyro Lad swung his nunchucks around and shot a ball of fire at the man, but like his partner, he missed.

“No!” Melody called. As she watched the man run down the hallway.

But just as he was about to get away, he was tackled by Tender Soul.

Pinned to the ground, the vigilante was punched by the speedster before Raven showed up and jumped on top of him, trapping him in an armlock.

Appleseed’s head landed on the ground, which was picked up by Tender Soul.

“Wow-it’s-been-a-while-since-we’ve-done-something-heroic. Feels-kinda-weird-you-know?” Tender Soul quipped before he was hit by Pyro Lad’s nunchucks. He collapsed on the ground. “Ow-what-the-hell-man!? Oh-hey-Pyro-Lad-how-ya-doin’?”

Pyro Lad’s hands ignited with fire.

Just as he was about to burn Tender Soul to a crisp, Night Shadow and Melody jumped in front and stopped him.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up, Pyro!” Night Shadow pleaded. Dunnere made the same hand motions as his master. “I know this sounds weird, but the Void League’s helping me out! We think this guy on the ground’s the one who killed Principal Appleseed Johnny!”

The vigilante shook his head.

“Это не правда. Я не убивал его. Но он планирует убить всех вас.” Said the vigilante.

Everyone was confused.

Nelson, Jerry, Amber, and Chad arrived on the scene.

“What’s going on here?” Jerry inquired before he looked at his former principal’s head. “ ** _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_** Dear god! What the hell happened in here!?”

“Long story,” Melody replied before turning her focus to the vigilante. “What did you say?”

“Вы все должны уйти сейчас же!” the green-hooded man pleaded again.

“He’s speaking in Russian,” Raven translated the language. “He says he didn’t kill the principal; however he plans to kill us. He then said we need to leave now.”

Everyone in the room gasped.

“What?” Tender Soul raised an eyebrow, holding the head in his hands. “We’re-gonna-get-killed-by-this-guy?”

The principal’s head suddenly opened its eyes.

“ _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_ ” Tender Soul shouted at the top of his lungs, as he slammed the head against the ground. A drop of blood poured down the side of his forehead. And as if things couldn’t get any weirder, cybernetic spider legs came out from the principal’s neck. Pushing the head upward, the once dead principal began walking around on his spider legs, admiring all of the students.

With a maniacal cackle, he said. “Well, well, well, let me get a look at the menagerie.”

Night Shadow stood in front of Sydney with his Sai glued to his hands.

Monsoon Gal and Pyro Lad stood beside Jerry and Amber.

The Void League stood together, as the vigilante escaped from Raven’s armlock.

And all of the students were stunned.

“I must say, I expected it would take a while for you dumbass students to awaken me,” Appleseed grinned. “Although I didn't must admit, I didn't expect superheroes and supervillains to be involved. Night Shadow, Monsoon Gal, Pyro Lad, Raven, Melody, Tender Soul, it's nice of you to join the party!"

Just then, Technolocity and Mojo came running down the hall.

“Guys, guys, guys!” called the technological villain. “You’re not gonna believe this! Mojo and I discovered that Principal Appleseed Johnny is still alive! Turns out he had some… sort of… diabolical… plan… hey, look at that, he’s right there.”

"Ah, of course, you'd be here too, Technolocity," said Appleseed, as he turned towards Mojo. "And I see you're accompanied by… by… I'm sorry, who are you?"

“Name’s Mojo: Mojo the Pink Gorilla.”

“Right… of course.”

“How is this possible?” Night Shadow asked. “I saw your head frozen in that canister! You were dead!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Night Shadow,” Appleseed replied. “You see, I-“

“Hold up,” Technolocity said, as he typed on the keyboard of his right gauntlet. “Do you mind if I play the video I saw so we can avoid tons of exposition?”

Appleseed nodded. “Sure, go ahead.”

Technolocity uploaded the holographic image and showcased it in the middle of the room.

The video began with Principal Appleseed Johnny as a normal human walking into his office. He was wearing a bright pink bunny suit and doing a weird dance he saw from a meme.

_“Hahahahahaha! I like Fork Knife! I like Fork Knife! And I like BUBC! I like Fork Knife! I like Fork Knife! Ahahahahahahahahahaha! All those kids are so dank! They really know how to Y.E.E.T! Yearn for Excellence in Education at all Times! Hahahahahaha! Hahahaha…hah…ha…ha..ha..”_

Upon reaching his desk, the principal collapsed on the floor and began to cry his eyes out.

 _“I-it’s not fair! It’s not fair! I try my hardest to be funny! I’m hip, I’m cool! But nobody thinks I’m funny!”_ Appleseed bawled his eyes out, as he strolled over to his medieval knight statue. _“Why do I even bother wearing this friggin’ bunny suit if everyone’s just gonna throw stuff at me! Why would they throw this pizza at me! It’s made out of cardboard!”_

The principal tried to rip off the bunny onesie he was wearing, but he was having a hard time pulling over his head. This caused him to stroll around his office, bumping into the walls, and knocking some items on his desk on the floor.

 _“Why can’t I get this thing off!?”_ he shouted and cried, as he hit the side of the arch wall, which caused one of the axes displayed to tip over slightly. The principal slammed his head against the wall again and again.

And the ax on the right fell down.

**_SLASH!_ **

Every single person in the South Lobby cringed when they saw the decapitation of their principal. Even Pyro Lad felt like he was going to throw up in his scarf. Jerry cowered beneath Amber’s legs and Sydney hugged her boyfriend tight. With one hand, she cupped her fingers over her mouth.

“Yeah, that’s the same reaction I had,” Technolocity commented, as he shut off the video.

“You basically killed yourself!?” Nelson rubbed the back of his head.

“Not intentionally,” Appleseed replied.

“Wait, there’s one thing I don’t understand,” Monsoon Gal pointed. “If you decapitated yourself, how are you still alive?”

Appleseed's spider legs strolled towards the hydrokinetic hero. "You see, Monsoon Gal. As soon as I was killed, a couple of security guards called the police and transported me to the hospital, where the doctors performed cybernetic surgery on me. They couldn't save my body, but they did save my brain; however, as soon as I returned to school… I realized something… If all of you treated me with respect and accepted me as one of the cool kids, then I wouldn't have cried and killed myself on accident! So, what I'm trying to say is… I didn't kill myself; _all of you did_!

“Ever since you dumb millennials entered this school; you’ve done nothing but spread your toxic culture around this environment! From memes to modern slang to those dumb dance moves you do from that Fork Knife game!”

“You mean, Fortnite?” Nelson inquired. “By the way, can I just say that I don’t know why we keep mimicking dance moves from that game. Like, Fortnite was shut down in 2019 and Fortnite Chapter 2 only lasted two weeks before it was corrupted by a virus.”

“Who cares!?” Appleseed continued his rant. “I’ve tried my best to bond with all of you, but you never gave me the chance! All you did was throw crap at me and call me an old man or sometimes an outdated loser! Well, I’ve had enough of that!... Heh, that’s why I had a whole scheme planned out…

“When I came out of the hospital a few days after you all graduated, I decided to plan out a perfect scheme to get my revenge. The letter I sent to all of you was created by former computer programmers of the computer science club, who were paid one hundred dollars each to create it. Then, I paid a few janitors a thousand bucks to stick my head in a square canister and stick me in the freezer, where I would enter suspended animation.

“Before they did that though, I had told them that they needed to send out the letters the day before today’s high school reunion. Thankfully, they listened to me.”

“But why were you being taken down to the basement?” Raven inquired.

“I had told the janitors to take me down there once the reunion started and I told them to have a loud conversation regarding a student ordering them to do it. Not only did I tell them that to throw you all off, but I did that hoping somebody would follow them.”

“Well, there was one flaw in your plan, shorty,” Night Shadow joked. “ _I_ was the one who found you.”

“I will admit, that part didn’t go as planned; however, you did lead me to the South Lobby, which is where all of the students commonly hang out.” Appleseed chuckled.

“Then that’s probably what this guy’s job was,” Melody pointed to the vigilante. “You hired him to free you from your capsule, just so he can get you to the students?”

“What are you talking about?” Appleseed asked, looking at the green-hooded figure. “I’ve never seen that man before in my life.”

The superheroes and villains turned to the vigilante, who looked at them with a neutral expression.

“Anyways,” Appleseed continued. “Now that I have you all where I want you, the next part of my plan can begin! The plan where all of you meet your demise!”

“ _Pfft_! How the hell are you gonna do that?” Night Shadow chuckled. “Are you gonna turn into some ferocious monster or something? Ha-ha!”

“Funny you should say that, Night Shadow,” smirked the principal. “I forgot one little detail in my backstory… Not only did I get cybernetic surgery, but I requested another form of surgery to be done to me. Let me ask you all something… who here has heard the term… Animal Surgery?”

“Uh, oh," Nelson mumbled.

The room got quiet as a loud metal tapping echoed. It was Appleseed's spider legs, which made the sound of a clock when they tapped against the ground. They started shaking in the process, as they suddenly grew longer in size. Then, a few pop noises were heard, and large suction cups shot out on the bottom of the spider legs. The metal limbs then grew wider in length and they colored themselves in metallic pink color; they transformed into the legs of an octopus. Then, two hairy arms from a chimpanzee shot out of sides, as the body and shell of a turtle sprouted from the principal’s neck.

Last but not least, the principal’s body was covered by a helmet that resembled a mechanical bull. Steam shot out of its nostrils and a loud train engine was heard.

Principal Appleseed Johnny has transformed into a monstrous creature.

Stomping his octopus legs on the floor, he let out an obnoxiously loud cackle before he clapped his monkey arms together.

“Sweet Mother of Mary Joseph!” Mojo gulped, as she loaded her guns and aimed them high.

“Any orders, Boss?” Melody said in a stern tone, as she activated her flute’s sword.

Technolocity slowly turned towards Tender Soul. “Tender… I’m counting on you to fulfill one job… Get. The. People. _OUT!_ ”

“Got it, Boss!” Tender Soul saluted, as he ran around the mutated principal and started escorting the former students out of the school. But Appleseed Johnny turned around and raised one of his octopus legs.

“Not if I kill them first!” he shouted, as the leg charged towards the civilians. But just before it crushed them, the vigilante slashed Appleseed’s octopus body with his bladed weapon, causing the mutant to roar in utter pain. Turning around, the principal stomped towards the man who stabbed him. But Melody, Raven, and Monsoon Gal jumped in front of him and fended him off.

The hydrokinetic used the water in her belt’s capsule to form a shield around herself, which blocked a hit from Appleseed’s leg. As she pushed back against the wall, Melody jumped on top of the leg and slashed it three times with her beam sword. She was about to leap onto the turtle shell before she was punched by a chimp’s muscular arm. Raven caught his partner, as he dodged an incoming attack.

Tender Soul continued doing what he was told.

Night Shadow and Pyro Lad shared a nod before using their elemental powers and weapons to attack the mutant. Hacking, slashing, bashing, whacking, they did everything they could to make sure the monster suffered their wrath; however, the turtle shell was too strong for the heroes to break through, which resulted into Night Shadow and Pyro Lad being smacked across their faces by the principal's legs. Tumbling across the floors, both heroes pushed themselves up and continued using their superpowers to win the fight.

“Night Shadow, climb on!” Technolocity shouted from above. The superhero nodded and jumped on his nemesis’s back.

Technolocity flew around the environment and fired an armada of missiles and plasma blasts at the turtle shell, hoping that if he places enough power into his suit, he’d penetrate the metallic shield.

Thankfully, he had the help of Pyro Lad, who used his pyrokinesis to shoot himself upward where he climbed onto the shell. Pressing his fingers against it, he poured every ounce of his energy into burning through. The center of the shell began to turn a dark orange color, indicating that the shell was melting.

Tender Soul joined the fight by helping Monsoon Gal deflect more attacks. He then ran over and gave the vigilante a boost, as the green-hooded warrior himself slashed another part of the octopus’ body, where a puddle of blood poured down the legs.

Mojo shot multiple bullets into the octopus legs, as she jumped over one of his attacks and slammed her fists against the leg, crushing it.

Just as the principal counteracted the vigilante, he realized that his turtle shell was melting. He gasped and went to grab Pyro Lad.

“Think you can melt my shield, you little prick!” he snarled. “Come here, Pyro, I’ll give you something to melt!”

“Back off!” Pyro Lad howled, as he burned both hairy hands with a streak of fire. The principal groaned and smacked the superhero with his octopus legs. Which gave Monsoon Gal the chance to not only save Pyro Lad by catching him with water, but she smacked the principal’s face twice before she summoned the water for a heavy attack; she slashed one of the bull’s mechanical eyes off.

“You’re a psycho!” she grunted at her enemy, as she dodged attacks from above. “What kind of a principal wants to kill their own students!? I’ve dealt with a lot of maniacs in my life, but none of them compare to you!”

“Not even you would understand, Monsoon Gal!” Appleseed retorted, as he fired a punch with his chimpanzee arm. “How would you feel if no one excepts you for who you are!”

“But you’re not some kind of meme lord!” Monsoon Gal replied, slashing the arm with a water whip. “You’re the principal of a god damn high school! You can be fun, but from the way you were doing it, it came across as more annoying than it did fun! That’s why people don’t like you!”

“Someone finally said it!” Night Shadow yelled, as he sunk his Sai into one of the legs.

“How dare you put logic into this fight!?” Appleseed smacked the hydrokinetic warrior across her jaw, as she began falling to the ground. This prompted Night Shadow to jump off Technolocity’s back.

“Monsoon Gal, hang on!” he cried.

But to his surprise, Melody slid underneath the octopus legs and played a song on her flute, forming a white platform that caught the heroine. Night Shadow unleashed a dark whip from his wrist and wrapped it around the edge of the broken turtle shell. Like a trapeze artist, he swung upward and joined Technolocity on the very top of the mutant.

They began punching the bull’s head.

Mojo climbed on top of the turtle shell and began punching it as well. She was about to stab it with her giant dagger before her body was slammed against the floor.

Monsoon Gal jumped off the platform and looked over at Melody.

“Melody… thanks.”

“…you’re welcome, MG.”

“That reminded me of how you used to be… what happened to you and the Void League back then?”

“…times change, MG… and so do people.”

“Yeah, but… you can still be heroes… there’s no reason to-“

“Look out!”

Melody saved the superheroine again by pushing her out of the way. A large tentacle shot acidic ink onto the floor, which melted through the ground.

“What-the-hell! He-shoots-ink!?” Tender Soul gasped.

“Well, of course he can do that,” Pyro Lad rolled his eyes. To which Molten growled at the monster.

Both the hero and the villain continued to fight.

Sydney, Jerry, Amber, Virginia, and Nelson hid behind the table with Mason's artwork. They watched the fight.

“Bitte lass mich nicht sterben! Bitte lass mich nicht sterben! Bitte lass mich nicht sterben!” Jerry prayed to God that he would get out this alive, as sweat flowed down his forehead like a waterfall.

“I can’t believe your principal’s a mutated monster,” Amber said.

“I can’t believe he’s not in an insane asylum!” Jerry replied with a shout.

Night Shadow and Technolocity swung near the table where Virginia’s artwork was showcased. The latter grabbed the giant portrait of the poodle, gave it a dirty look, flew upward, and slammed it against the bull’s head.

“Not my poodle picture!” Virginia cried.

Sydney chuckled when that happened.

But sadly, karma bit her in the rear once a bleeding octopus leg smacked all of Mason’s artwork that was displayed. It all fell to the floor and broke into pieces.

“No!” Sydney shouted with fear.

Virginia laughed and pointed at Sydney.

The only sculpture that was close to tipping over was the stone sculpture of her face.

“Nelson, catch that!”

“Catch what?”

**_CRACK!_ **

Nelson glanced at the broken piece. “Oh… sorry.”

A crack could be heard in Sydney’s heart. One of her favorite pieces just broke right in front of her. Sure, she did have the picture of it stored inside Mason’s portfolio; however, she really wanted the actual piece to take home. But now she couldn’t do it. Virginia just kept laughing; it echoed throughout Sydney’s ears.

Glancing up at the monster, Sydney saw that the heroes and villains worked together to take it down.

But she felt that needed a little extra help. In other words, she wanted revenge for what Appleseed did to her boyfriend’s work. She stood on her feet and began walking towards the monster. Amber and Jerry tried to stop her by grabbing her arm, but her determination broke her free from their control.

“Syd, what are you doing!?” Amber pleaded.

Sydney didn’t say a word.

But she did have something to say to the monster.

“Hey, asshole!”

Appleseed smacked Tender Soul against the wall and turned his attention to the Spanish woman.

Night Shadow’s eyes widened. “Sydney, what are you-… what the?”

He quickly noticed that some of his broken pieces were on the floor. Sydney gasped when she saw him walk over to his broken artwork. Picking up a few pieces of stone and marble, Night Shadow dropped some of them on the floor and drew his attention back to his girlfriend.

“Why was my artwork out here?” Night Shadow inquired.

“I… I… I…”

“ _SYDNEY_!”

A large leg was rushing right towards her, but instead of waiting for her boyfriend to save her, Sydney rolled out of the way and rushed over to the trophy cabinet. Picking up a piece of broken stone, she chucked it at the glass and watched shattered fragments blanket the floor. She then grabbed one of the trophies from the school’s fencing competition and rushed towards the monster.

Hacking and slashing like a ninja, Sydney’s main mission was to injure the one who ticked her off.

She began climbing on top of the legs and simultaneously stabbed the leg with all of her might. A bit of blood splashed on her face in the process.

Night Shadow and Dunnere stood shocked. They knew Sydney could get angry if someone she loved was hurt, but they didn’t think she’d go this crazy.

“Seriously!” Melody smiled when she saw Sydney’s rage. “Your girlfriend is a vacker badass!”

“Vacker?” Raven raised an eyebrow.

“Long story.”

“Sydney, get down from there!” Monsoon Gal shouted. “You’re gonna get hurt!”

The powerless fighter didn’t bother listening, as she chucked her sword in the center of the cracked turtle shell. She clearly hit something on the inside because Appleseed covered that spot and roared in utter pain. With veins popping in his eyes, he reached over for Sydney, but Night Shadow grabbed her and got her down to safety.

The other heroes and villains resumed the fight.

“Are you crazy!?” Night Shadow said with concern. “You could have gotten yourself killed, Sydney! What were you thinking!?”

“That asshole broke all of your hard work! I can’t let that slide!”

“Why was my artwork even out here in the first place? Were you trying to take it home or something! If so, I could have helped you carry it!”

"I… I… I might have challenged some bitch named Virginia Blanc to an art contest."

“Why would you mess with that broad?”

“Because she was insulting your talent. She made a mockery of all of your work, especially the stone statue you made of me!”

Night Shadow froze. “You… found that one?... Heh, I wanted to show you that one when I came back from the basement… sadly, I got involved in all of… this… Sydney, I’m sorry I didn’t get to show you my artwork and for not talking about it earlier… I guess I just never found time to bring it up.”

“Don’t apologize, Mason,” Sydney said, as she held her boyfriend’s hand. “You were busy with this Jacked Up Headless Reunion.”

“Ha! The name works!” Technolocity shouted before he got smacked across the face.

Sydney turned back to her boyfriend. "I should be the one who's sorry… It was wrong of me to display your work without your consent… I just wanted people to know you're talented."

“Sydney, I do work for people who think I’m talented. I don’t care what Virginia or some other high school losers think… as long as I acknowledge the people who know I’m creative, I’m satisfied.”

Sydney smiled and blushed when he said the last sentence. The two lovers leaned in for a kiss until they heard a scream from Pyro Lad.

“ _Hey! Pause the lovey-dovey moment and help us!_ ”

Night Shadow chuckled nervously and tucked on his V-neck. “Sorry, Pyro!... Come on, Syd. I’m getting you and the others out of here!”

Grabbing Sydney’s hand, Night Shadow rushed over to Jerry, Amber, Virginia, and Nelson. “Come on, folks! All aboard the Shadow Bus! Please keep all hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.”

Jerry grabbed Amber’s hand and Amber grabbed Sydney’s, but Virginia just jumped on Night Shadow’s back. Annoyed at this, Sydney pushed the brunette brat off and jumped on her boyfriend’s shoulders. Jerry offered a hand to Virginia and she reluctantly took it. Nelson took Virginia’s hand.

"On three, everybody!" Night Shadow announced. "One, two, three-“

“Wait… is Chad okay?” Nelson questioned.

That was the moment he suddenly heard a laugh come from where Virginia’s art station was. Turning over his shoulder, he saw that Chad was hiding behind Virginia’s table, recording the entire fight with his phone.

“Oh, my god! He’s gonna get hurt!”

“Nelson, don’t worry. I’ll get you out and come back for-“

“I’m coming, Chad!”

“Nelson, what the hell are you doing!? Come back here!”

Showing no hesitation, Nelson entered the donnybrook and realized that he was in over his head. Superheroes and villains were working together against a massive behemoth. Objects were being thrown, windows were shattered, superpowers caused small explosions across the ground, and grunts of pain escaped Appleseed’s mouth. The red robot widened his eyes and adjusted his glasses, as he quickly made his way around the monster. He jumped over one leg, slid underneath a flying desk, moved over to Pyro Lad’s right, and tripped over Tender Soul’s feet. He tumbled over and rolled across the floor like a ball. Coming to a stop, he crashed into the side of the table. Finally, he leaped over the table itself and landed beside his ex-boyfriend.

“Chad, we need to get out of here!”

“No way, man! I’m posting this on YouTube! I’m gonna be a world star, baby! Whoo-hoo!”

“Do you want to be a world star, or do you want to live!?”

Appleseed lifted a leg and unintentionally aimed it towards Chad and Nelson. The red robot screamed and pushed the animalized creature off his wheelchair. The chair itself was destroyed in the crash, as both civilians tumbled across the floor. Night Shadow ran forward and slashed the principal’s leg before he ran back to his group.

Nelson followed close behind, carrying Chad in a bridal fashion.

“Nelson… you saved me.”

“Don’t thank me yet.”

Night Shadow grabbed onto Nelson and Chad before he raced out of the school with the others by his side.

Pyro Lad skidded across the ground, where he stood next to everybody else.

“This is useless!” the Firestarter growled. “No matter how hard we hit him, he just keeps getting up.”

Reloading her gun, Mojo commented. “I can end this once and for all if someone can get me up there.”

“Whoa, whoa! We’re not gonna kill him!” Technolocity said. “We just need to get his head out of the body! Anyone got any ideas?”

Monsoon Gal stroked her chin before she deflected a splash of acidic ink and watched it sink. “If only I could manipulate that acid, I could use it to… wait a second… I got an idea!”

Night Shadow came back just in time to hear Monsoon Gal’s plan.

“How’s the fight going?” he asked.

“I have a plan,” the blue heroine answered. “There’s nine of us and eight octopus legs. If eight of us grab each leg and one of us goes up to the head, we can defeat this creature and bring this psycho down!”

“Умный план.” The vigilante nodded in agreement.

“What did he say?” Monsoon Gal inquired.

“Not sure, but I think he likes your plan,” Technolocity replied.

The vigilante happily nodded again.

“Bubba Shikka!” Night Shadow shouted, hoping everyone would charge into battle. But instead, he was met with curious glances. “…what? It’s my new battle cry!”

Monsoon Gal and Pyro Lad shrugged their shoulders before everyone returned to the fight.

Night Shadow, Monsoon Gal, Pyro Lad, and Melody rushed off to the left whereas Raven, Mojo, Tender Soul, and Technolocity dashed to the right. Everyone used their strength to grab onto each octopus leg. The three elementals used their powers to pull the legs down whereas Melody created a rope with her magical flute. Mojo and Technolocity pulled the two octopus legs towards them while Tender Soul reportingly stepped on the eighth leg with his super speed.

Appleseed struggled to get himself free, but because of the combined strength from heroes and villains, he had no chance of escaping.

“Yo, vigilante guy!” Night Shadow struggled to get his words out clearly because of how much energy he was wasting.

“Зови меня Гаврош.”

"His name's Gavroche," Raven replied.

“Gavroche, that’s a cool name, go!” Night Shadow shouted.

Gavroche whipped out his scythe and spun it around three times. He jumped onto the octopus legs and began running up to the top. Appleseed tried to stop him by throwing punches with his hairy arms, but because of how fast the fighter was, he couldn’t land a hit on him.

The green-hooded man jumped off of the left arm and spun his scythe around one more time before…

**_SLASH!_ **

He sliced Appleseed’s head off.

“Noooooooooooooooooooo!” Appleseed shouted, as his real head fell out of the bull mask. Gavroche placed his weapon away before he grabbed the head with his hands. Sliding down the octopus legs, he landed safely on the ground.

The heroes and villains released the octopus legs and approached the man.

“No! I can’t lose like this!” Appleseed shouted, as he squirmed around in Gavroche’s arm. “Let me out of here, you monster! I demand a rematch!”

“Now, he starts acting like a stereotypical principal,” Monsoon Gal chuckled.

“Unhand me, you scoundrel!”

Night Shadow and the Void League smirked at one another and shared a wink. Raven reached into his pocket and took out a pack of duct tape.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Appleseed inquired, as Raven approached him with the tape in his hand. “No, stop! I order you to not do that! Get away from me! _Nooooooooooooo!_ ”


	6. Chapter 6

**“The Sensational Night Shadow in… The Jacked Up Headless Reunion”**

**Chapter 6**

Created by The Spectacular SpiderDom

* * *

Night Shadow was relieved to walk out of his old school. He missed the smell of fresh air and he also wanted to spend some time with Sydney. He and his team came out the front doors with Appleseed’s head in Raven’s hands; his mouth was taped shut.

Sydney, Amber, Jerry, Nelson, Chad, and Virginia got excited when they saw the heroes. Sydney was about to hug her boyfriend before Virginia pushed her down to the ground. Dunnere gasped and went to bite the brunette brat, but Night Shadow shook his head as if to say, _“No, Dunnere. Don’t do that.”_ The heroes and villains watched the woman approach them.

“Can I just say that was like totally amazing!” Virginia smiled. “But the only thing I’m gonna harass you guys about is that you _destroyed_ my artwork! Seriously! I spent a lot of time on that stuff and you just destroy it! What the hell, guys? I’m going to call my daddy! He’s gonna make you all sorry for what you-“

Technolocity pulled a fifty-dollar bill from his wallet. “Here’s fifty dollars if you leave us alone.”

“That can be arranged,” Virginia smiled, as she took the dollar from the villain’s hand.

“She’s gonna be pissed when she finds out that dollar’s from a Monopoly game,” Technolocity whispered to his teammates. He snickered and patted them on their shoulders.

Night Shadow finally hugged his girlfriend, as his other friends walked towards him.

“Never thought I’d see an alliance between heroes and villains,” Jerry stroked his chin. “Granted, it’s happened multiple times in comic books, but in real life! Guess there is a first for everything."

“I will admit, Technolocity, you and the Void League did help us out a lot,” Monsoon Gal leaned on her weapon. “Thanks for the help.”

“Even I have to say, you weren’t half bad,” Pyro Lad folded his arms.

“Yeah, but this was a one-time thing!” Technolocity replied with a grin. “Now, it’s time to get back to business! Void League, retrieve the demons from Night Shadow, Monsoon Gal, and Pyro Lad now!”

The Void League didn’t follow his orders. Instead, they all just yawned and stretch their bodies.

“Boss… we’re-tired-and-we’re-also-lazy,” Tender Soul said. “Also-we-just-uncovered-a-jacked-up-mystery.”

“Don’t you think we deserve a break?” Mojo rubbed her head.

Technolocity gave his team a moody frown at first before he gave them a quick moan. He was about to lecture them about laziness before he yawned as well. Stretching his arms, he heard his back crack. “All right… maybe next time, guys. How’s next week sound?”

“Sounds good to me,” Night Shadow replied.

“Good… welp, see ya later, guys.”

The supervillains walked to the left of the school, but as Technolocity and Mojo trailed along, the rest of the team stayed behind and looked back at Night Shadow. Walking towards him, they offered him their hands. Raven handed Appleseed’s head to Monsoon Gal.

“I’m sorry I disrespected you at first, Night Shadow,” Melody said with a low sigh. “I know we've grown accustomed to being enemies; however, despite all the shit we've done to you for the past nine years, you treated us with kindness… Thank you for helping us with this mystery."

“You’re-the-best!” Tender Soul winked and gave a thumbs up.

“I should be thanking you guys,” Night Shadow answered, as he shook the trio’s hands. “If you didn’t show up, I would be running around the basement like a headless chicken.”

The Void League chuckled.

“You know,” Night Shadow continued. “It’s not too late for you guys to turn to the side of good. You were heroes in the past, so you can be heroes again. Come to the light side, my friends. We have cookies.”

The Void League chuckled again before they gave the hero the same frown.

“We would… but we can’t,” Raven answered softly. “Now’s not the best time.”

Turning around, the three villains followed their master.

But Night Shadow asked, “When is the best time?”

Raven turned over his shoulder. “You’ll know.”

The Void League left the schoolyard, leaving the good guys alone.

Monsoon Gal and Pyro Lad stood next to Night Shadow, who was sad that his former friends decided to stay who they are. The former placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled.

“You have a heart of gold, Night Shadow,” she nodded. “But you have to understand. They’re our enemies now… we have to learn to accept that.”

“I know,” the black/blue replied. “But if they weren’t such hard cases, they could totally be superheroes.”

A moment of silence occurred between the interlocutors.

“Hey, Gavroche,” Pyro Lad said, as he turned around. “While I may not know much about you, thanks for your-What the hell?”

The mysterious figure suddenly disappeared.

“Holy disappearing act, Batman!” Night Shadow exclaimed. “Gavroche’s gone.”

“Where did he go?” Monsoon Gal asked. Her demon, Aqua, shrugged her flippers.

“Wherever he is, we better keep a close eye on him,” Pyro Lad said. “We still don’t know why he was here. He had nothing to do with Appleseed’s plan, so why was he here?”

“Not sure,” Monsoon Gal tapped her foot on the grass. “But I have a feeling this isn’t the last we’ll see of him.”

“Very true,” Night Shadow nodded.

The pyrokinetic hero cracked his back and rolled his arms. “Once MG and I bring Appleseed to the cops, I’m gonna head home. There’s a new novel I’m working on and I’ve been procrastinating to write it. Hopefully, I can get a few words down.”

Nelson nervously approached the two heroes. “Hi, sorry to bother you three. First off, I am a huge fan of you guys. It’s an honor to meet you in person.”

“Pleasure’s ours’s.” Monsoon Gal winked.

"If I can just trouble you guys really quick, have you seen a guy named Mason Moonstone? He's a close friend of mine and we work together for an art business. Yeah, he didn’t help me with my problem; therefore, he’s not getting his raise, but he’s a damn good employee and a friend, so I don’t wanna lose him. Did he get out safely by any chance?”

Night Shadow pressed his arms against his hips as if he was Superman. “Don’t worry, citizen! Mason Moonstone’s A-Okay! He’s just uh… he’s um… he went back to Seattle and then he, no that’s not right… let’s just say he… he… he…”

Pyro Lad rolled his eyes before he stepped in. “Mason’s fine, Sir. He and the other students probably went back to the city.”

“ _Phew!_ Thank goodness!” Nelson wiped his forehead. “Thanks, guys! Again, I am a huge fan of all of you! Especially you, Night Shadow! You rock!”

"Thank you, pedestrian, who I totally don't work for!"

As Nelson walked away, Monsoon Gal snickered and glanced at Night Shadow.

“Your boss is a big fan, huh?”

"I'm hoping to God he doesn't have a shrine of me in his house… so, MG… sorry to bring you and Pyro into this. I guess I just panicked, that's all. I never dealt with a murder like this before, so I underestimated myself back there. I didn't think I'd work well with the Void League. So, sorry to call you guys out of fear."

"Hey, Pyro, and I are always here to help you out."

“No matter what predicaments you get into,” Pyro Lad nodded. “By the way, you suck at lying.”

“I’m aware of that,” Night Shadow sighed.

“Pyro and I will take Appleseed to the authorities,” Monsoon Gal said. “Why don’t you go spend some time with your friends.”

“Thanks… I think I will. See ya guys later!”

"Goodbye!" Monsoon Gal waved, as she and her partner began walking down the grass. Rubbing her elbow, she turned to her best friend and said, "Listen Pyro. That stuff I said about Billy… I didn't mean to insult you. It wasn't my intention, I swear… we may see him as an enemy, but… knowing him, there may be a chance he could come around. The Void League have chosen their path, but Billy… he seems lost… I think he needs his brother to help him find his way back home."

Pyro Lad turned to the side and thought about what he heard before he looked into his partner’s eyes and replied with, “For now, Turbine’s my enemy… but… who knows?... hey, what’s this?”

Both heroes stopped once they came across a path with a sign that read, _“Lover’s Forest.”_

“What’s down Lover’s Forest?” Pyro Lad asked.

“Not sure,” his partner answered. “Wanna find out?”

Underneath his scarf, the pyrokinetic smiled, as he and his partner strolled down the grassy lane.

Night Shadow smiled at them before he approached Jerry, who was listening to a conversation between Nelson and Chad.

“So, that’s Chad, huh?” the former asked.

“Yep.”

“He looks pretty good.”

“Yeah, he does.”

"You think Nelson's gonna apologize?"

“He may be a pervert, but at least he’s got a heart… somewhat.”

Nelson rubbed the back of his head, as he sat down next to Chad on the grass. “Hey, Chad… sorry about your wheelchair. If you want, Mason and I can make you one.”

“Nah, it’s fine, Bro,” Chad replied, rubbing his legs. “Listen, Nelson… thanks for saving me back there. That was the second nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me. Well, I should say the first because my half-brothers got me a soccer ball only for them to pop it five minutes later.”

“Ha. You’re welcome,” Nelson said tenderly. He rubbed his head one more time before he finally came clean. “Listen, Chad. What I was trying to say in the basement earlier is that I’m sorry… I’m sorry for cheating on you and sleeping with everyone in the school… I was insecure back then and not ready for a relationship… it’s just that I’ve been treated like crap when I entered my first three relationships, that I grew an instinct to treat everyone else the same way… I did that to other people who deserved it, but you shouldn’t have been one of those people… I’m sorry for the way I treated you, Chad.”

The orange-skinned man took in what was just said. With a few nods and a deep breath, Chad gazed into the robot’s golden eyes and told him, “I accept your apology, Nelson… however… I still can’t look at you the same I did years ago. Every time I see you, I always see the man who broke my heart.”

Nelson frowned when he heard that.

“And I appreciate the fact that you apologized to me after so long… It’s gonna take me some time to forgive you.”

“I… I expected you to say that… do you want me to carry you home?”

“Nah, it’s fine… I’ll have my girlfriend pick me up.”

“Girlfriend, huh? Who’s the lucky gal?”

“Her name’s Nancie Bond and she’s an artist. I can have her pick me up.”

“All righty then.”

“I’m sorry I can’t forgive you right now, Nelson… I hope you can understand.”

“Hey, no worries,” Nelson replied. “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”

The two friends wished each other one final goodbye before the robot approached Night Shadow and Jerry. Amber and Sydney, who also listened to the conversation, felt sympathy for him.

"You did good, Nelson," Amber patted the drone's shoulder. "You did well."

“Really?... Feels like I didn’t do enough,” Nelson replied.

“Don’t worry, man. There’s someone for everyone,” Jerry added. “How about you and I go get a drink. I know a good place.”

Sydney watched Jerry, Amber, and Nelson walk back towards the tunnel that leads to Paris itself, as she noticed her boyfriend turn to her. With her arms folded behind her back, Sydney twirled her hair.

“Let’s get out of here,” Night Shadow smiled. “I wanna take you somewhere cool.”

* * *

Later that night, Principal Appleseed Johnny was arrested for his crimes and Treedome High School was under construction. Monsoon Gal and Pyro Lad returned to Seattle to get some rest, Amber joined Jerry and Nelson for dinner out at a fancy restaurant, and Mason Moonstone sat next to Sydney Connor on top of the Eiffel Tower: Paris’ cultural icon.

The moon shined bright and the stars illuminated the darkness. There were countless stars in the sky that it would be impossible for one to count them all at once.

Mason and Sydney looked up at the moon and felt the light shine down upon them.

They sat together on a green and white patterned sheet with a picnic basket behind them. They were munching on a box of chocolate macaroons and dipping them in glasses of milk. A nice way to enjoy a French dessert.

Finally relieved to be out of his suit, Mason fed a macaroon to Dunnere and leaned back against the sheet. His orange hoodie and dark green jeans blew against the soft wind. He zippered his hoodie, which covered his black and white shirt, and wrapped one arm around Sydney’s shoulder.

His girlfriend yawned and did the same thing he did.

They both leaned close together.

“This is nice,” said Mason. “Just you and me… all alone on a beautiful night like this.”

“Yep,” Sydney closed her eyes and smiled. She cuddled herself beside her boyfriend. “Yeah, it is.”

Mason bestowed a kiss upon his girlfriend’s cheek right before Sydney let out something she wanted to say to him.

“I’m sorry about your artwork, Mason… I know I apologized earlier, but I still feel bad that it got destroyed.”

“We saved my portfolio, didn’t we?”

"Yeah, but… I wanted to save that statue of my face… ha, I looked at its picture and saw it was taken two weeks after we became pen pals… did you have a crush on me back then?"

“…actually, that was meant to be your birthday present. But it was finished too late. I wanted it done by your exact birthday, but because of homework and the parts that kept falling off the sculpture itself, I couldn't get it done on time. When I finished it, I knew I had to take a picture in case it ever broke. Thankfully, I was smart enough to turn that one in as one of my assignments. Though, of course, Virginia shared a few words about it."

“Oh, god. I wanted to smack that bitch… how did you make it through school with her?”

“Honestly, I was bothered by her at first… but with the help of a few friends… I decided not to let her get to me… Dunnere wanted to smack her a few times, but I told him not to.”

 _“What!? That’s bullshit, I never wanted to touch her!”_ Dunnere signed. To which, Mason chuckled.

“Relax, Dunnere, I’m just teasing.”

_“You better be.”_

Sydney laughed at the banter between the hero and his demon, as she took a bite out a macaroon and a sip of milk. She continued looking up at the stars.

“I know I apologized for this earlier, but I'm sorry I never told you much about my high school career," Mason spoke. "I always looked at the negatives rather than the positive. Even though I was involved in a murder mystery today, working with the Void League and fighting Appleseed _did_ remind me of the good times I had in school.”

"Maybe you can tell me more about it sometime," Sydney suggested. "You've told me about your art class, but I don't know other things like what friends you had, what other classes you took, and other things. You did tell me a few things when we were pen pals; however, I want to hear them again to see if I remember. Maybe I'll learn something I never learned before."

Gazing into his girlfriend’s emerald green eyes, the hero exchanged a glance with his demon before he turned back.

“What better time than now?” Mason took a sip of his milk. He set it down and released a low sigh. “But first… I want to ask you something.”

“Ask me anything,” his girlfriend smiled.

Tugging on his orange sweatshirt, Mason leaned back against the blanket, allowing Sydney to place her head on his chest. “Have I ever told you that before Mojo, the Void League had another member?”

Sydney shook her head. “I don’t think so, why?”

“His name was Felix, Felix Harbor. Like Harry, Madelyn, and Leo, he was part of my circle of friends. We were all in the same art class and we collaborated on a few projects. When he was part of the Void League, Felix took the alias of Lupin. He walked around in a badass looking wolf costume and helped Technolocity with his plan in 2026, Project: Eiffel.”

“Project: Eiffel?”

“It’s a machine that sat on the Eiffel Tower, it was supposed to rid the world of every Elemental Demon and superpower in existence. It was a plan that created a lot of plot holes for Technolocity, since there was no way he could just get rid of superpowers like that, but he attempted to do it. With the Void League, his scientist: Bertram Van Cyrus, and former assistant: Edwin Alonzo by his side, he thought his plan was unstoppable… well, until MG, Pyro, Turbine, Frosty Beetle, and I stopped him of course.”

Sydney chuckled at that last comment.

Mason continued his story. “Getting back on topic, Madelyn, Harry, and Leo were there when Project: Eiffel was happening… but Felix wasn’t. It made me wonder if he disappeared, got killed, or if something worse happened to him. I know he did some bad things when he was Lupin, but I’ll always remember him as Felix Harbor: a friend who not only pulled off a sweet Swedish accent but a friend who was always there for me when I needed him."

“Sounds like you and the Void League were good friends back then,” Sydney spoke. “Why _did_ they join Technolocity, to begin with?"

"I'm not sure," Mason replied, rubbing his nose. "But I guess I'll never know. Anyways, the reason why I wanted to tell you about Felix is that Gavroche reminds me of him."

“Really?”

“Yeah. His fighting style reminded me of the way Felix used to fight. Quick, discrete, and aggressive.”

“Do you think Gavroche is a hero or a villain?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe he’s one of those neutral anti-heroes, but regardless… I have a feeling I’ll be running into him again.”

The Spanish girl placed her hand around her boyfriend’s fingers. “But… let’s not worry about that at the moment. Who knows when he’ll come back? Take the night off, you deserve some rest. We had a long day today.”

“Yeah… you’re right,” Mason smiled, as he leaned forward and kissed his girlfriend’s forehead.

“Now, tell me about your art class. I want to know where your talent came from.”

Mason shared a glance with his demon before he began. “Well, it all started when Nelson and I walked inside with our portfolios. I was nervous, really nervous. I thought for sure I’d get a bad grade, but after having it looked at by my professor, I realized that I was letting my anxiety get to me. So, I-“

As the superhero continued to explain his story, there was a mysterious figure watching the couple talk from below.

Sitting on a nearby rooftop was Gavroche, who held a pair of binoculars in his hands. He put them back in his belt, looked up at the Eiffel Tower one last time, and walked away with something to say.

“Take good care of her, Mason… don’t make the same mistake I did.”

**_END OF STORY_ **


End file.
